KARACHI: CJ deplores dearth of judges, judicial officers
KARACHI, March 3: The Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, has said that the judiciary is primarily responsible for resolving the controversies and disputes brought before it within the framework of the constitution and the law in a timely and fair manner.
He laid emphasis upon effective functioning of the administration of justice by making optimal utilisation of available resources. “We have no alternative but to perform and to deliver,” he said while speaking as chief guest at a dinner hosted in his honour by the chief justice and judges of the Sindh High Court.
Unfortunately, heavy backlogs of pending cases await hearings at every tier of the judicial hierarchy. However, he said, the present position of huge backlog had not emerged overnight. The cases have piled up over decades and are multiplying on account of ever-increasing population and a rising trend of litigation with more and more people coming to the courts for resolution of their disputes, he added.
He said, “The fact that the phenomenon of pendency and backlog is found everywhere in the world and that Pakistan is no exception to it does not relieve us of the burden placed on us. We have to explore ways and means to handle this extremely painful situation.”
Judges’ strength
The chief justice said the high courts needed to analyse their work patterns and come up with newer strategies to meet the demands placed upon them. Besides, he said, there was also a need to augment the existing strength of judges in some courts. He said that the recently-established Islamabad High Court was a step in the fulfilment of the constitutional mandate of providing inexpensive and expeditious justice to the people.
He said urgent steps were being taken to fill vacancies in high courts with judiciary persons known for their competence, honesty and integrity. “We need individuals who are imbued with an enthusiasm to ameliorate the suffering of the litigant public. We need individuals who have a passion to work for the cause of justice. We believe that only such individuals can meet the challenges faced by the system of administration of justice and improve its working keeping in view the well-established principles governing it,” he added.
Pointing out that district courts are the primary resort with many of the controversies begining and ending up at that level, he said that they were insufficiently manned. There was a great dearth of judicial officers and the support staff, he said, adding that there were no proper courtrooms, libraries and other requisite infrastructure.
These issues had not only been discussed at length in Judgments of the Superior Courts but also dilated upon in the voluminous reports of the Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan, duly forwarded to the government for implementation. The reports suggested the steps for the improvement of the system of administration of justice and now there was a need to strengthen these courts in every possible way, he said.
Allowances, facilities
Justice Dogar said that he believed in taking practical steps and the National Judicial Policy-making Committee under his chairmanship recently recommended grant of utility allowance, transport allowance and enhancement of judicial allowance for judges.
He said that the Punjab government took a lead in this respect by raising the judicial allowance from Rs6,000 to Rs8,000 for civil judges and from Rs7,000 to Rs10,000 for district and sessions judges and additional district and sessions judges. The Sindh government followed in the footsteps of Punjab government and notified the allowances, he said, adding that judicial officers from all over the country would get double judicial allowance very soon.
He said that the governments of Sindh and Balochistan were one step ahead of other two provinces in the provision of official cars to judges as much as that district and sessions judges and additional district and sessions judges were also provided cars. The government recently approved provision of 325 cars for the use of judicial officers in Sindh, he said, hoping that the initiative would be followed by other provinces as well.
He said that the provision of facilities was not the end itself, but a means to achieve the higher objective i.e. provision of inexpensive and expeditious justice to public. “We have to earn public trust and confidence through hard work, commitment and integrity of character. Our salvation lies in a dedicated service. Let us pray to Allah Almighty to enable us to face the challenges of our times with unity, strength and wisdom,” he added.
Earlier, Chief Justice Mohammed Afzal Soomro of the Sindh High Court welcomed the Chief Justice of Pakistan. He said, “Judiciary in Pakistan is independent. It has always interpreted the constitution in its true wisdom and in accordance with its impartial assessment of the facts and without any influence direct or indirect from any source.”—APP
