LAHORE, Nov 28: Supreme Court Bar Association president Justice Malik Mohammad Qayyum (retired) said here on Monday that superior courts had shown their inclination towards the government over the past few years which was bad for the independence of judiciary.
Speaking at a Meet the Press programme at the Lahore Press Club on Monday, Malik Qayyum said the Supreme Court was yet to give a verdict against the government since 1999, and such a trend was dangerous for the healthy growth of national institutions.
He said the 1973 Constitution had been drastically changed by successive governments, including the one which framed it, and added that the 17 changes had altered the basic philosophy of the document.
He said the Supreme Court had not been able to get its decisions implemented because it could not withstand pressure due to its weakness. For example, he said, the apex court could not even get the law on marriages implemented because judges themselves attended wedding receptions where the ban on ostentatious expenditure on dowry, meals and illuminations was violated with impunity. Similarly, he said, the SC could not get its decision in the writ petition of Shahbaz Sharif implemented, resulting in the exile of the Sharifs, which was the example of losing the fundamental right of citizenship.
He said the SCBA had set up a committee of senior jurists to review all constitutional amendments since 1973, and suggest measures to remove ambiguity and contradictions in the basic document.
Senior jurists like Sharifuddin Pirzada, Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, S M Zafar, Khalid Anwar, Aitzaz Ahsan, Syed Iqbal Haider, Dilawar Mahmood and Barrister Zahoorul Haq constituted the committee to work out recommendations so that the Constitution was restored in its original form.
He said that no one had approached the SCBA’s free legal aid committee so far to seek its help, which showed that the people had lost confidence in the judiciary.
The SCBA chief said that he would employ all his energies to restore the image and the prestige of the judiciary without any confrontation which would serve no meaningful purpose.
He said the basic work was to make the subordinate courts work judiciously so that 90 per cent of the litigants could get justice.
He said the subordinate judiciary was in the highest disorder and this was bad for the future of justice.