LAHORE: Supreme Court Chief Justice-designate Mian Saqib Nisar on Saturday said that the judiciary would not yield to any pressure and expediency, and would dispense justice without fear.

“Shortcuts are temporary benefits and do not deliver professional heights,” said Justice Nisar while addressing the concluding ceremony held to mark the Lahore High Court Bar Association’s silver jubilee.

He said it was mere misconception that favourable decisions could be obtained by exerting pressure on the judiciary.

The CJ-designate said there would be no flaw in the appointment of judges. “I promise there will be no pressure on the judiciary and no one could dare question our transparency. I cannot sacrifice my life in the hereafter for any worldly benefit,” he said.

Advising young lawyers, he said benefits of shortcuts were always temporary and they could not take anyone to professional heights. He said the bar was like a school of lawyers but regretted that young lawyers lacked training.

“I started my career from a civil court on a broken bench and chair,” he recalled and urged lawyers to shun the practice of observing strikes and allow the judges to do their job.

Justice Nisar also asked the judges to hear parties with patience before passing judgements.

Speaking at a Christmas event held at the Lahore High Court, he said courts were bound to protect the religious rights of the minorities. He noted that the Constitution completely protected the rights of the minorities.

Earlier, LHC Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah said that people’s hopes for reforms in the justice system were associated with the new chief justice of Pakistan. He said that lawyers and judges had to assert their professional skills to achieve the common goal of early disposal of cases.

He said it was the result of collective efforts that 50,000 cases had been decided at the high court and 810,000 at the district judiciary level of Punjab over the past six months. He said untiring efforts were being made to bring technology-based reform to the system to facilitate the real stakeholders [litigants]. He said that automation of the case management system was being planned after the success of the LHC’s mobile-app, SMS service and Sahulat Centre.

Justice Shah said that appointments and promotions in the judiciary were being made on merit.

Justices Mohammad Yawar Ali, Mohammad Anwarul Haq and Mamoon Rashid Sheikh and Supreme Court’s former justice Iqbal Hameedur Rehman, retired justice Nasira Iqbal and a large number of lawyers attended the ceremony.

Published in Dawn, December 25th, 2016