WITH a new chief justice in office, it is a time to take a fresh look at the whole system and the way it works and needs to work. Parliament may be asked to adopt amendments to the Constitution wherever required within three months to remove the burden of responsibility from the judiciary.

All cases in which a judge was part of the bench regarding cases related to their family should be declared null and void and be reopened. In all cases related to the acquisition of ill-gotten wealth against the name of the accused or his family, the onus of responsibility should be on the accused to provide money trail within 30 days, otherwise all movable/immovable property should become the property of the state on the 31st day without any further notice.

Any case related to the larger interest of the country should be allowed to be reopened, disregarding any plea of debarring the same on technical grounds.

Plea bargain should be declared unlawful and unconstitutional. In corruption cases, 25 per cent of the recovered amount should be distributed as a reward among the investigating team and the team of prosecution lawyers for winning the case for the state.

Specific timeframe for all categories of cases of heinous crimes should be fixed, ideally six months, and special trial courts be established separately for the same, such as terrorism, murder, rape and corruption, etc., at provincial and federal levels which should be dealt with by expert judges.

All the existing cases may be forwarded to such courts according to their category after the establishment of such courts.

Reward and punishment should be made part of the Constitution for the judges who decide the case in time or delay accordingly in the case of heinous crimes. Interference of judges or courts in administrative affairs of the government should be blocked. Separate jury/forums consisting of eminent retired judges and retired public office-holders at provincial and federal levels should be formed to keep a check on the government and reduce the load on the courts.

A Judges’ Academy should be established where law graduates should be selected through competitive examinations. Only those individuals who graduate from the said academy should be inducted as judges.

Ajmal Rasheed
Karachi

Published in Dawn, February 21st, 2022