Delaying Tactics used by Lawyers in Dispensation of Civil Justice in Lower Courts of Pakistan

RazaUllah Shah, ShadiUllah Khan, Sumera Farid & Aman Ullah Shah

Abstract
Justice is the foundation and object of any civilized society. It is basic principle of justice that
it should be delivered without delay if it is to be effective. In Pakistan civil cases take
immensely long period of time presumably due to exploitation of different loopholes in the
system by lawyers to protract a case to indefinite periods. To find out the delaying tactics used
by lawyers responsible for the prevalent problem of delay in justice in lower courts of
Pakistan a questionnaire survey was conducted in six districts of KPK province. The
questionnaire was distributed among the three groups of stakeholders of justice system i.e.
Lawyers, Judges and Litigants. The findings of the study proved that the main causes of
delay related to lawyers were; common practice of instituting false and frivolous litigations
by lawyers, lawyers seek adjournments from courts on false grounds, lawyers come to court
without preparation, Lawyers exploit the technicalities in the legal procedure. While other
causes of minor importance were; lawyers strive for adjournments to manage their case load,
lawyers use delaying tactics for the interest of their clients and they make frivolous
applications for amendment of pleadings.

Keywords: Civil Justice, Lawyers, Advocates, Delay, Pakistan.