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Talking to participants of the National School of Public Policy (NSPP), he said “Chief Justice Iftikhar is a symbol of bravery, boldness and rule of law and is acclaimed for supremacy of the Constitution not only in the country but across the world.”
Referring to the days when former president Pervez Musharraf had sacked superior court judges through emergency rule on Nov 3, 2007, Justice Javed said he himself could have become the chief justice of Pakistan by agreeing to read “just a few lines” of the PCO oath but preferred not to do so.
“We are a creation of the Constitution and custodians of the Constitution. It is our duty to preserve and protect the Constitution and perform our duties well because we are under oath.”
He said people had great expectations from the judiciary and everyone was approaching the court with his grievances because most departments have failed to deliver what was expected of them. Had the departments worked efficiently, hundreds of applications would not have been coming to the Supreme Court with almost everyone seeking relief from the chief justice, he said.
Therefore, there was no option but to take suo motu notices while remaining within constitutional limits and drastic changes have been witnessed because of the exercise of this jurisdiction.
The judge recalled that he was offered 50 plots for judicial officers in Gwadar by a former chief minister of Balochistan when he took suo motu notice about land meant for a hospital but found out that scores of plots had been given to army generals and top politicians at throwaway prices.
“The written offer is still with me where I was even authorised to dole out the precious land. But I refused because this wealth belongs to the nation and the country,” he said.
He said there should be no doubt that the Supreme Court would take action wherever there was corruption or misuse of power.
The judge also referred to cases like the sale of the Pakistan Steel Mills and the Bank of Punjab loan scam of Rs9 billion where billions of rupees were returned to the country because of action taken by the court.
“Should the Supreme Court sit idle and not take action in such scenarios?” he asked.
Justice Javed regretted that loans of billions of rupees secured by influential people were waived but property of ordinary citizens was auctioned to recover small loans.
Praising the role of lawyers and the media, he said judges were confined to their homes when Gen Musharraf proclaimed emergency rule to pre-empt an adverse decision by a 11-judge bench that was hearing a case about his eligibility to contest presidential elections.
He said judges were custodians of the Constitution and it was their foremost duty to preserve it regardless of whether someone liked it or not.
“We are following the four principles of supremacy of the Constitution, rule of law, preserving the democratic system and strengthening the institutions, without which we cannot move forward,” he said.
Justice Javed Iqbal said that bureaucracy had failed to come up to the high expectations of the nation. Citing a case about recent promotion of senior civil servants to grade 22, he said even the best policy based on discretion amounted to favouritism.
“As a nation, we have become inefficient. Had we been honest we would not be in the present predicament. Corruption has crept in because of lack of accountability and become part of our culture,” he said.
He said the Supreme Court had the authority to set aside decisions and its actions were not person-specific but aimed at safeguarding the country which, according to him, was on the verge of collapse.
