It is honest fact that majority of the people are ignorant about the facilities provided by the Sind government specially in health sector, development in infrastructure and establishment of Consumers Protection Courts. The consumer’s protection courts have been established at every district level in Sind in order to provide the protection and promotion of the rights and interests of the consumers, speedy redress of consumer’s complaints and for matters connected therewith under Sind Consumers Protection Act 2014.Unfortunately people avoid going to courts mainly of two reasons firstly it is expensive and secondly it is time consuming. Any complainant wants his case to be decided quickly within reasonable time limits. It is also true that it is not the honourable judge who delays the cases but it is the judicial process that hinders quick disposal of cases and we un necessarily start targeting the judges. There is shortage of Honorable judges therefore they are over burdened with cases. But, the major flaw observed is knowing fully well the judicial hurdles and limitations the Honorable judges are very magnanimous in granting more time and chances to the defendant knowing fully well that the defendant is deliberately delaying the proceedings by not attending the court on one pretext or the other. As a matter of principle in such cases if the defendant does not attend the court on the third notice the Honorable Judge should decide the case ex party that’s how the time can be curtailed and justice delivered in time. Until one goes through the drill himself in the court it is difficult to get the complete insight as to how court proceedings are undertaken. Having appeared in different courts I feel things have considerably changed in adding more problems to litigants rather than giving relief, however High Courts are doing good work.
It was year 1953 as a young boy studying in high school first time I attended the court of District and Session Judge in Jacobabad under soaring temperature of 41 degrees. A false case was instituted against my late father and we appeared in the court for pre-arrest bail. The moment the Honorable Judge entered the court roomwhich was nicely done up and we all stood up as a mark of respect. The Judge heard the case and right on very first hearing asked the prosecutor to come fully prepared with proper evidence and not to bother innocent people and granted bail in the sum of Rs 5000, however the case was dismissed in the third hearing. In another case it was vacation of house in Karachi by tenant, after 10 years of litigation it was out of court settlement due to flexibility shown by tenant. Such cases are dragged un necessarily, tenant must vacate the house in 30 days but he keeps getting relief from the court for years for which there is no justification. In another case that was filed in Sind High Court in 2014 only two hearings, since matter is subjudice would refrain in giving details. The fact remains the cases take years to decide even on simple matters, and in some cases Plaintiff reaches his final abode without getting decision of the case.
It is a fact that I was also ignorant about the Consumer’s Protection Court until I met chairman Consumers Association of Pakistan who advised me to make a complaint in the consumer’s protection court. I must express my great satisfaction on one of the consumer protection court in District South. I lodged a complaint against a company for not honoring the warranty. Before talking about the case it will be appropriate to mention that in Pakistan we do get warranty cards of various products but the buyers face so much hurdles when warranties are not honoured. It is common practice to torture the buyer and avoid honouring warranties. I prepared my complaint with relevant documents and it was morning of 11 Jan 2024. I entered in Consumers Protection Court District South and sat down on the bench provided. On my turn I asked the Honorable Judge can I plead my case without lawyer the answer was in affirmative. I handed over my application to Honorable Judge who after going through it asked the staff to issue notice to defendant. The defendant appeared on the given date and agreed with my complaint but requested honorable Judge to give him time to contact his senior officers in the matter. Accordingly, fresh date was given. During the hearing I was impressed by the conduct of Honorable Judge who was giving time to lawyers and listened them patiently. Prior to my case while watching other case I witnessed lively discussion between the judge and the lawyer and got convinced that this court is really providing justice to affected parties. When my name was called I stood up and pleaded my case to the best of my abilities and it ended up in next hearing. There were total 18 hearings in my case and defendant did not appear in most of the hearings. The court has taken roughly ten-and half months to decide the case.
Although it looks as if it was a quick decision under the existing circumstances but plaintiff and defendant are never satisfied but as an individual I am satisfied because there has not been any intentional delay. It must be understood that in each and every case either the Plaintiff or defendant wins and the loser always appear to be dissatisfied and that is understandable. In each hearing I observed that Honourable Judge did not allow any lawyer or complainant or defendant to raise their voice and observed proper decorum and discipline in the court. The credit goes to Honourable Judge and their seniors who are monitoring their juniors. During one of the hearing while depositing my papers some document required its photocopy. The Honourable Judge extended courtesy asked me to handover paper to runner due to my old age. After handing over paper I gave him money for the Photostat of my paper but the runner refused in spite of my several attempts. It was indeed a great gesture on the part of runner and strict discipline being maintained in the court. I am senior citizen veteran and octogenarian and must put on record that the Honourable Judge extended full courtesy and I feel most satisfied with the treatment matted out to a senior citizen. This treatment should not be viewed in isolation as the Honourable judge was extending this courtesy to all present in the court. Notwithstanding, what is the nature of case Honorable Judges should make efforts to ensure quick disposal of cases and senior Judges may fix time frame for those cases where defendants deliberately avoid appearing in the courts. This step alone shall reduce the time frame of cases besides reducing work load. It has been a pleasant experience in this old age, therefore I thought it appropriate to make it public that things have improved and our new generation of Judges is definitely striving hard to administer justice to people. “I always believe in” Justice WILL prevail “.
