February 25, 2007	Sunday	Safar 7, 1428

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ISLAMABAD, Feb 24: The three organs of the state — legislature, judiciary and the executive — are not rivals when it comes to performing their functions, according to Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.Addressing a delegation of the National Defence College that visited the Supreme Court on Saturday, he said the Constitution envisaged trichotomy of powers between the three organs of the state.

He said all three branches of the government had their different and distinct roles and functions. “However, in the performance of their functions, the three branches are not rivals, but supplement each other, to further the aims and objectives of the polity,” he remarked.

The Supreme Court chief justice cited the apex court’s judgment of 1999, according to which it had allowed parliament and other democratic institutions to remain functional and said that in pursuance of its judgment in the Zafar Ali Shah case, parliament and democratic institutions were still functioning and country was back on the path of democracy.

He said when the superior court declared an act of the legislature or the executive as null and void on the touchstone of a constitutional precept, it did not do so for its own aggrandisement, but because the Constitution commanded it. It performed only its duty, he added. Therefore, the relationship between these three departments has to be governed by the rule of law with mutuality of respect and trust.

Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry said that a civilised system of governance was based on observance of constitutional norms and adherence to the rule of law. He said that societies, which believed in the supremacy of law, developed and prospered, adding that the law basically protected the weak and the vulnerable.

The benefits of law, he said, should reach the common man. He said: “A society based on rule of law prompts its citizens to remain loyal and keep vigil to protect and serve the nation. People would do so, if they are governed well, so that there are opportunities to move forward, develop and prosper.”

Commenting on the role of Supreme Court in providing relief to the common man the Chief Justice pointed out that in the last one and a half years, the court had moved faster in providing relief in the exercise of different types of its jurisdiction, the original, the appellate and the review.

He said the apex court was aware about the issues of the people in distress and it spared no occasion to come to their rescue.He said a strict vigilance was kept on the working of various government departments to ensure impartial, quick and inexpensive justice to the people. He said the courts in general were burdened with heavy workloads. “But with the continued support and cooperation of judges and the members of the Bar, the apex court has been able to considerably reduced backlogs in the Supreme Court.”

Referring to public interest litigations, the chief justice said that the superior courts, in exercise of their constitutional jurisdiction in the enforcement of fundamental rights “may, in appropriate cases, relax the rigour of a rule of procedure in the interest of justice”. He said one such area was public interest litigation where applications and letters addressed by the members of the public to the Chief Justice or Judges of the Supreme Court were entertained in relaxation of the normal rules of procedure applicable to the other classes of cases heard and decided in the Supreme Court.

He said keeping in view the large number of cases, a human rights cell had been set up in the Supreme Court.