KARACHI: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has said that the judiciary is working within the ambit of the constitution.

He said this while addressing the oath taking ceremony of newly elected representatives of the Karachi Bar Association (KBA) here on Saturday.

The chief justice said that corruption was the main hurdle in the way of dispensation of justice and asked the District and Sessions judges to focus on complaints of corruption against para-legal staff within their jurisdiction.

Justice Chaudhry said that it was clearly mentioned in the judgement of suo motu case on law and order in Karachi that provision of security to life and property is the responsibility of the government, but the concerned authorities “have failed to fulfill their responsibilities”.

He said that the environment was not conducive for judges as well as lawyers to work in Karachi.

Referring to the target killing of some lawyers, he said the administration was not pursuing such cases properly.

He said the people had expressed a lot of confidence on the judiciary after Nov 3, 2007 and “we should all live up to their expectations”.

The CJ advised the lawyers to prepare sound cases and avoid seeking adjournments so that the cases could be decided as early as possible.

Later, the chief justice administered the oath to the newly elected office bearers of Karachi Bar Association (KBA).