HYDERABAD: Supreme Court Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali has said that the apex court always considers it seriously whether it is exceeding its suo motu jurisdiction. “It’s an irony that bad governance is leading to issues like Thar in Sindh that is rich in resources. I hope that lest the judiciary should intervene, the government pays attention to the situation, tackle it and find out a solution.”

The chief justice was speaking at a gathering of lawyers late on Friday evening during his visit to the city to attend the annual dinner hosted by the High Court Bar Association (HCBA), Hyderabad. Sindh High Court Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, HCBA president Ghulamullah Chang and general secretary Ayaz Tunio also spoke at the gathering.

CJ Jamali concurred with Mr Chang’s assertion that children including newborns were dying in Thar but the government was doing nothing. However, the chief justice made it clear that the “judiciary always keeps it in mind if it is going beyond its suo motu jurisdiction”.

“It is an irony that bad governance is leading to such problems in Sindh where resources abound,” he said, and expressed the hope that government would tackle the Thar issue and find a solution before the judiciary could consider it appropriate to intervene.

Mr Chang devoted much part of his speech to the issue of the death of a large number of babies and children due to aggravated food situation, malnourishment and unavailability of proper medical care. He also urged the CJP to appoint a commission to look into fake police encounters and the terms of ‘full fry’ and ‘half fry’ used by policemen for the degree of torture ordered by their officers to be applied while dealing with suspects.

The senior lawyer appealed to the CJP to give due consideration to the elevation of competent and eligible judges of the Sindh High Court.

The CJP said that he had taken certain initiatives to bring about an improvement in the working of the judiciary and made mention of appointment of 90 judges in the subordinate judiciary of the province in this regard. He held out the assurance that the appointments would be made on a 100 per cent merit basis.

“The administrative committee has given serious consideration to induction of lawyers as district judges,” he said, adding that judicial academies were being set up at the federal and provincial level and lawyers should derive maximum benefits from them,” he said. Bar representatives should also remain in touch with the academies to guide lawyers about the training, he said.

The CJP said he discouraged the trend of appointing retired judges in tribunals at the cost of practising lawyers. “Retired judges have played their innings. Instead of appointing them on a contract basis, lawyers should be appointed to head tribunals. They [lawyers] are competent enough and their appointment will enable them to demonstrate their potential,” he said.

CJ Jamali observed that working conditions in the judiciary had undergone a radical change. He gave a comparison between the past and present conditions. “A civil judge appointed after passing the competitive exam used to draw Rs550 per month in the past but now the salary has been raised to Rs100,000,” he said.

SHC Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah speaking at the gathering advised lawyers to maintain highest ethical and moral standards, observing that there was no short-cut to achievements. He named some of senior lawyers Syed Madad Ali Shah, Jhematmal Jethanand, Hidayatullah Abbasi and Ejaz Hakro who, he said, were there to guide budding lawyers.

He said that advocates should not breach the trust of their clients in their competence and sincerity. Lawyers should not give unethical advice ... a lawyer was doomed if he lost confidence of court, he said.

The CJ said that the Sindh High Court had taken measures to purge itself of ‘black sheep’ by removing certain judicial officers and was paying attention to ensuring an improvement in the conduct of court staff who, according to him, were drawing a salary three times higher than their counterparts in the executive.

Chief Justice Shah said he wanted disposal of cases in the lower judiciary within a year at the most.

Published in Dawn, February 7th, 2016