March, 27 2005	Sunday	16 Safar 1426

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

ISLAMABAD, March 26: Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Nazim Hussain Siddiqui has said political issues should not be settled in courts as parliament is the only proper forum for resolution of such grievances.“Courts are not empowered to amend the constitution. Even a comma or a semi-colon could not be added or deleted by any court,” the chief justice said, while speaking at a symposium on Dispensation of Justice and Backlog here on Saturday. The one-day symposium was organized by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) at the Supreme Court Building here on Saturday. Courts were the creation of the Constitution, which provided procedures and methods to amend it, he said, adding that grievances of an ordinary man and that of a politician should not be mixed up. The Supreme Court, the chief justice said, had become another civil court, as huge number of cases, including fictitious matters, were being filed directly before it instead of exhausting these first at the lower forums.

Referring to the delay in the filling of existing posts of judges in the top court, he said that the president was the only appointing authority and the chief justice could not exceed beyond recommending names of judges for their elevation to the Supreme Court.

He also referred to a recent experience, when he had refused and returned back names of certain judges from Lahore for their elevation and said the appointing authority had agreed to it and accepted the names of those whom he had suggested and they were now in the bench.

He, however, assured the gathering that he would not waste a minute in putting up the names of the judges for elevation, forwarded to him to fill existing posts in the top court.

“We should solve our problems by framing rules which suite our own social, cultural and economic conditions instead of borrowing them from different societies,” the chief justice said.

About the filing of review petitions, the chief justice regretted that basic purpose behind a majority of such cases was to gain time, despite the fact that the scope of review petitions was always limited and was never meant to re-arguing the entire case. The review petitions also did not automatically stayed the implementation of a verdict or a matter pending before a trial court, he explained.

The chief justice said he had already directed his office to fix review petitions for hearings as early as possible.

Referring to the backlog of cases, he deplored that 29,500 cases were still pending in the Supreme Court, despite the fact that 15 months ago the pendency was just 20,000 and that a record number of cases were disposed of during 2004.

He asked the lawyers to do something to check the rising number of cases and said he had been forced to personally devote an hour to sort out matters, which needed urgent attention.

The chief justice informed the audience that steps had been taken to enhance salaries of judges of lower judiciary and conceded that categorization of cases in an efficient way would help in reducing existing pendency in courts.