Over 2.362mn cases pending in Pakistan courts, including SC

Karachi: More than 2.362 million cases are pending in courts across Pakistan, including the Supreme Court, of which more than 1.955 million cases are pending in subordinate courts across the country and 3.49 million in high courts. More than 57,000 cases are pending in the Supreme Court of Pakistan, and 78 cases are pending in the Federal Shariat Court.

According to data obtained from the Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan, as of December 31, 2024, 2.362 million cases are pending in all courts across the country, of which 83 percent (1.955 million) are pending in the country's district courts, 17 percent (0.4637 million) cases are pending in the high courts.

According to the data, on July 1, 2024, 57,666 cases were pending in the Supreme Court. From July 1 to December 31, 2024, 8,496 new cases were filed in the Supreme Court. During the same period, the country's high courts delivered judgments on 10,517 cases. Thus, the total number of pending cases as of December 31, 2014, was 57,316.

The number of pending cases in the Federal Shariat was also 77, of which 21 new cases were filed, and 20 cases were disposed of; and the number of cases here at the end of last year was 78.

On July 1, 2024, 347,383 cases were pending in the five High Courts of Pakistan. During this period, 116,617 new cases were filed, while 111,996 cases were disposed of by the High Courts, and by December 31, 2014, a total of 348,983 cases were pending in the five High Courts.

The Lahore High Court (LHC) had the highest number of pending cases, with 197,875 cases. During the said 6 months, 73,612 new cases were filed in the LHC, while 73,482 cases were disposed of. Thus, the number of pending cases in the LHC reached 198,050 by December 31, 2024.

The Sindh High Court (SHC) ranks second in terms of pending cases, with 84,986 cases pending, and from July 2024 to December 31, 2024, 19,335 new cases were filed, while 17,901 cases were disposed of, taking the total number of pending cases to 86,421.

In the Peshawar High Court (PHC), 42,227 cases remained pending, 14,097 new cases were filed, while 12,635 cases were disposed of, taking the total number of pending cases to 40,667 as of December 31, 2024.

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) ranks fourth in terms of pending cases, with 17,050 pending cases as of July 1, 2024, while 6,142 new cases were filed and 4,574 cases were decided during the said 6 months. Thus, the total number of pending cases has increased to 18,618.

The number of pending cases in the Balochistan High Court (BHC) was 5,245. From July 2024 to December 31, 2024, 3,431 new cases were filed, and 4,404 cases were disposed of. Thus, the number of pending cases in the BHC has increased to 5,272.

As of July 1, 2024, 18,1943 cases were pending in the subordinate courts, and 25,78,633 new cases were filed during the last 6 months. 24,54,557 cases were disposed of during the same period. On December 31, 2024, the number of cases in the district courts across the country increased to 19,33,755.

Punjab also ranks first in district courts. As of July 1, 2024, a total of 13,43,637 cases were pending in the district courts of Punjab. During the said 6 months, 20,18,615 new cases were filed, while 18,86,334 cases were disposed of, and as of December 31, 2024, the total number of pending cases was 14,91,951.

In second place are the subordinate courts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where the number of cases pending as of July 1, 2024, was 259,441. From July 2024 to December 31, 2024, 256,519 new cases were filed, and decisions were issued on 270,263 cases, and the number of pending cases as of December 31, 2024, was 254,830.

Similarly, the total number of pending cases in the subordinate courts of Sindh was 131,060. From July to December 2024, 221,330 new cases were filed, while 214,471 cases were decided, and 142,435 cases remained pending as of December 31, 2024. The fourth most pending cases are in the district courts of Islamabad, where the number of cases pending as of July 1, 2024, was 49,698, while 50,845 new cases were filed during the next 6 months, and 52,689 cases were decided. Thus, the number of pending cases here has reached 51,542.

In fifth place, a total of 18,161 cases were pending in the district courts of Balochistan as of July 1, 2024. Between July and December, 31,324 new cases were filed, while judgments were delivered on 30,800 cases. By December 31, 2024, the number of cases pending in the agricultural courts of Balochistan had reached 18,685.