ROLE OF JUDICIARY VITAL TO ALLEVIATE PEOPLE’S GRIEVANCES: CHIEF JUSTICE IFTIKHAR MOHAMMAD CHAUDHRY

KARACHI: Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry on Saturday said the role of the judiciary was getting vital with every passing day as the citizens were reposing confidence in the institution for the redress of their grievances.

“It is now up to the judges of superior as well as subordinate courts to acquaint themselves with a better knowledge of human society to resolve contemporary societal problems,” he said while delivering a key note address at the 1st Summit of the All Pakistan Judicial Academies in Karachi.

The summit was organized by Sindh High Court (SHC) in collaboration with the Sindh Judicial Academy. The summit was attended by the chief justices and judges of the high courts. “The Constitution protects judicial independence to promote the rule of law and judges are expected to administer the law fairly without fear and favour,” he said.

“At the same time, the tracheotomy of powers rests upon the recognition of the fact that concentration of absolute power in one individual or institution will result in exploitation and tyranny,” he pointed out.  Chief Justice Iftikhar said that presently four judicial academies were operating in the country including that in Islamabad and three in three provinces while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would also soon have its own academy.

These academies were engaged with the task of imparting training and orientation in laws, judicial norms and etiquettes to the judges, he added. He said the Federal Judicial Academy was striving to impart pre-service as well as in-service judicial training to the judges for the improvement of the judicial system. Chief Justice Iftikhar hoped that the summit would provide an opportunity to critically examine the judicial institutions to make sure that they meet the present needs to resolve societal problems.

He maintained that the district judiciary was the first forum where litigating public interacts with the judicial system, therefore, these trial court judges were expected to listen patiently and act with full wisdom in their judgments. About the syllabus of the academies, Chief Justice Iftikhar said that these should be approved after due deliberation by the Board of Governors of the Federal Judicial Academy to bring uniformity in the system.

He said with new trends in jurisprudence, such as cyber crimes, environmental law, alternative dispute resolution, forensic science and criminology, local, national and international law, the judges needed to be educated in these fields during pre-service and in-service training from time to time. Highlighting the importance of information technology, he said the judges should be computer literate and judicial academies must specifically focus on imparting awareness about utilising information technology tools.

Earlier, he also appreciated the efforts of Chief Justice of SHC, Justice Mushir Alam for providing a platform for exchange of ideas by legal experts to cope with the demands of an efficient judicial system. In his brief remarks, the Director General of Sindh Judicial Academy, Justice (Retd) Saleem Akhtar said that since its establishment in 1993, the Academy has trained out 50 batches of judicial officers. He said the research oriented studies were lacking in our institutions and proposed that research centers may also be established in the judicial academies.

CHIEF JUSTICE WANTS EFFECTIVE MONITORING OF LOWER JUDICIARY

KARACHI: Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry said on Friday that chief justices and judges of high courts were duty-bound to actively supervise the subordinate judiciary by paying surprise visits to courts.

He was speaking at a session of the National Judicial Police Making Committee convened to examine the effective implementation of the National Judicial Police. The meeting was attended by the judges of the Supreme Court, chief justices of all high courts and judges of the Sindh High Court.

The chief justice said the lack of supervision of the subordinate courts was one of the major reasons for delay in cases and ineffectiveness of lower court forced many litigants to approach the Supreme Court for relief.

He observed that the basic idea behind the exercise was to identify the loopholes in monitoring system and to evolve strategies for effective implementation of the judicial policy to meet the expectation of the litigants.

“This is the time for realization and to account for what was to be done and what is being done. This is time to step forward and assume our roles and duties. Every step towards the goal of justice requires sacrifice, tireless efforts and passionate concern of dedicated individuals,” he observed.

The chief justice said the national judicial policy provided a path for reforming the administration of justice in the country in order to realise the goal of ensuring expeditious and inexpensive justice for all by mobilizing the existing resources.

He said the policy articulated strategies for independence of judiciary, eradication of corruption, clearance of backlog and quick dispensation of justice, adding that attention was given to timely disposal of criminal cases, especially cases of under-trial prisoners, languishing in jails.

He said that corrupt practices on part of the judicial officers and the court staff had lowered the confidence of litigant public in judicial system and to curb this menace, the policy provided an exhaustive mechanism which included establishment of a cell for eradication of corruption from judiciary under the supervision of the chief justices of the high courts, monitoring the performance of the district and sessions judges by appointing a judge of high court and conducting surprise visit and inspections of the courts, establishment of a committee headed by sessions judges and presidents of respective bars to curb the corruption of court staff etc.

He expressed hope that the situation could improve if the chief justices of the high courts and their team members ensured the implementation of the judicial policy through strict and efficient monitoring.