ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) has cautioned that delays in adjudicating cases at any level of the justice system erode public confidence, undermine the rule of law and disproportionately harm the weak and vulnerable who cannot afford prolonged litigation, The News reported on Saturday.
A two-member bench, comprising Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Ayesha Malik, made the observations in a four-page judgment dismissing a petition by Abdul Salam Khan against a Peshawar High Court verdict in a property auction case.
The court noted the matter had been pending for 14 years — 10 of them in the high court — before reaching the Supreme Court in 2022, where it was taken up in 2025.
In the four-page verdict, Justice Shah pointed out the said case pending before the PHC for 10 years and said the SC could not “remain indifferent to the systemic malaise of delay in the adjudication of cases”.