Wants judges appointment in accordance with Constitution

PESHAWAR: Linking speedy and effective justice to the elevation of judges against vacancies, Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has said the Supreme Court has no designs to weaken the nascent democratic system as the judiciary had rendered sacrifices to put the country on the path to democracy.

He was talking to local lawyers on Sunday at the Supreme Court registry during his maiden visit to Peshawar after being restored as top adjudicator of the country on March 16, 2009. The chief justice linked the quick disposal of cases to the immediate elevation of judges to the superior courts. “The main problem the judiciary is presently faced with is filling of the vacant positions at superior courts...judiciary won’t be able to deliver if new judges are not elevated against the vacant posts,” he said.

The primary purpose of the CJ’s visit was to offer condolence to the family of slain senior lawyer Muhammad Sardar Khan, who was gunned down in Islamabad last Wednesday. Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry said the relationship between the bar and the bench was based on the notion of establishing the rule of law. “Deviation from the rule of law would spoil our struggle for the independence of judiciary,” he said.

He observed that the people’s trust in the judiciary had made them pin high hopes on the courts and top of them was quick dispensation of justice and the courts must work in a way the justice is observed.

Responding to a query about the burgeoning trend of corruption at the subordinate judiciary, he said the Supreme Court was working out a strategy, which would help completely end corrupt practices at lower courts.

When one of the lawyers drew his attention towards the case of Dr Aafia, the chief justice remarked that the Supreme Court had no jurisdiction in the affairs of the United States. However, another lawyer Ghulam Nabi Khan said the Supreme Court could take action against the authorities in Pakistan who handed over Dr Aafia to the foreigners. He also urged the chief justice to take note of the “extra-judicial killings” in the Frontier province besides the growing number of the cases of missing persons both in Frontier and Balochistan. On this, the chief justice directed him to forward data about all such incidents to the apex court.

Former president of the Peshawar High Court Bar Association (PHCBA), Abdul Lateef Afridi, floated the idea of inducting judges into the subordinate judiciary exclusively from the bar “because fresh graduates are not capable enough to tackle the cases properly.”

However, PHCBA President Syed Muhammad Atiq Shah said at least five-year experience as practicing lawyer be made mandatory for the candidates of civil judges. In this, regard Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry directed Peshawar High Court (PHC) Chief Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan to raise the issue with the provincial government.

Atiq Shah requested the chief justice to establish a permanent bench of the Supreme Court in Peshawar, as about 1,800 cases were pending at the Peshawar registry of the apex court. He also underlined the need for making new inductions into the subordinate courts to materialise the idea of providing expeditious and inexpensive justice to the litigants.

The chief justice paid rich tributes to Sardar Khan, saying that the deceased always remained on the forefront for the struggle to establish rule of law in the country. “We lost a straightforward and an upright lawyer,” he said, suggesting the lawyers to hold a condolence reference at the PHC to eulogise his services for the profession of law.

INP adds: The chief justice of Pakistan has said that vacant posts in the superior judiciary should be filled in according to the Constitution. He urged the need for changing attitude and warned that if “we followed the old trend, the prolonged struggle made by lawyer’s fraternity would go waste.”

(Source: "CJ Iftikhar links quick justice to judges' full strength", Pak-Tribune, 08 February 2010)