LARKANA: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Anwar Zaheer Jamali said in separate addresses to high court and district bar associations here a day before and on Saturday that the education, health and environment sectors were a picture of bad governance and warned the country would never earn respect among the comity of nations unless it eliminated corruption.

The Supreme Court and the high courts were passing orders for the general good of people but they were often nullified, diluted or rendered ineffective, which was sheer injustice with people, he said.

The CJP said in his address to members of the High Court Bar Association here on Friday night that corruption and inefficiency were eating away at the country’s roots and were a major obstacle to national progress and prosperity.

He underlined the need for initiating self-accountability encompassing all sectors of society. “We’ll start it with ourselves, otherwise, our dream for a welfare state will not come true,” he said.

Corruption and inefficiency are eating away at country’s roots, says CJP

He said the performance of the judicial system did not meet the demands required of it. No individual or institution could be held responsible for maladministration and mismanagement, collective efforts were needed to address the ills, he said.

“I feel a judge must be farsighted, well-versed in law, honest, responsible and patient but the majority of judges lack such qualities because they take their vocation as just another job,” he said.

He cautioned against wealthy habitual petitioners injecting huge money into litigation to usurp rights of orphans and poor women and urged lawyers, especially seniors, in the interior of Sindh to come forward and form legal aid committees to help the poor through free legal assistance. Such committees had been formed in Karachi and other districts, he said.

Referring to welcome address by Safdar Bhutto, president of HCBA, he said that every district should be given representation in jobs in the judiciary. By June 2016 the Sindh High Court would have more judges through the Judicial Commission of Pakistan, he added.

Later, the HCBA president presented Sindhi cap and Ajrak to the CJP and judges of apex court and high court who accompanied him on the visit.

On Saturday, the CJP said in his address to the members of the district bar association that Pakistan was among the few countries in the world where legislation had been overdone to serve personal interests.

He said that nowadays everybody was talking about corruption, bad governance and nepotism. Unfortunately, despite 30 years of martial law the country could not have the kind of political leadership that transformed China, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Singapore, he said.

About an increasing gulf between the rich and the poor in society, the CJP asked what could happen when the poor got poorer and the rich richer and jobs were sold to the highest bidders. The education, health and environment sectors had become a picture of bad governance, he said.

CJP returns expensive gifts with thanks

The chief justice returned with thanks a horse and a goat, which were gifted to him by president of the district bar association Babu Safraz Jatoi, saying he could not accept any gift worth more than Rs10,000.

Mr Jatoi graciously accepted the CJP’s excuse in his welcome address and raised issues confronting the bar. He pointed out that laws which governed the appointment of high court judges in Punjab and Sindh were different.

Earlier, all judges were presented Sindhi caps and Ajraks and sets of books on the history of Larkana and Shah jo Risalo.

Published in Dawn, May 29th, 2016