KARACHI: Chief Justice designate of the Sindh High Court Justice Sajjad Ali Shah on Wednesday said that the problems faced by the judges and litigants were numerous, but not insurmountable.

He was addressing the participants in the full court reference held to bid farewell to outgoing SHC Chief Justice Faisal Arab, who has been elevated to the Supreme Court.

CJ designate Shah paid tribute to the outgoing chief justice, saying that CJ Arab gave landmark judgements during his tenure as judge of the high court.

He said that Justice Arab also worked hard to solve the problems faced by the district and higher judiciary.

The CJ designate wished him happiness, good health and long life and expressed the hope that the outgoing chief justice would keep on helping the provincial judiciary as judge of the apex court.

Earlier, outgoing CJ Arab said that competence and efficiency of judges in dispensation of justice was as important as the independence of the judiciary.

He said that corruption in the judiciary could not be tolerated at any cost. He said that during his tenure, seven judicial officers were removed from service, while five others were retired on different charges.

The outgoing CJ said that over 150,000 cases were pending disposal in the district judiciary due to a shortage of judicial officers.

He said that during his tenure as chief justice, as many as 144 judicial officers were appointed against the sanctioned vacancies of 279 judges, while only 146 judicial officers were appointed during the period of 11 years before he took charge as CJ.

Justice Arab said that massive efforts were made to curb corruption in the judiciary during his tenure. However, he said, more steps were needed to be taken at an accelerated speed to wipe out the menace from the judiciary.

All judges of the SHC, representatives of the Sindh High Court Bar Association, the Sindh Bar Council and the Karachi Bar Association and senior lawyers also attended the reference.

Born on Nov 5, 1955, Justice Arab graduated in commerce in 1978 from the Government College of Commerce & Economics, Karachi, studied law at the Sindh Muslim Law College and completed his LLB in 1989, enrolling as an advocate of the high court in 1992. In 2005, he was enrolled in the Supreme Court.

In October 2005 he was appointed additional judge of the Sindh High Court. Before his elevation, he worked as the standing counsel for the federation for a year. On Oct 25, 2006 he was appointed as a permanent judge of the high court.

A year later, Justice Arab, along with other judges, was deposed when Gen Pervez Musharraf declared the state of emergency in the country and promulgated his infamous Nov 3, 2007 Provisional Constitutional Order.

Justice Arab was finally reinstated, although he had to take a fresh oath, after more than nine months in August 2008, by a democratically elected government.

Published in Dawn, December 10th, 2015