KARACHI, Dec 30: Retired Justice Rana Bhagwandas has said that the roles of judiciary, executive and legislature are defined in the constitution and the judiciary is functioning within the parameters of its legal domain.

Speaking to lawyers at the annual dinner of Karachi Bar Association (KBA) held on the premises of the Sindh High Court on Saturday night, the former judge of the Supreme Court urged the legal fraternity to help the judiciary in timely disposal of cases. He lauded lawyers for launching a successful movement for the restoration of independent judiciary, but called upon them to put their personal differences behind and maintain unity among their ranks to help maintain that freedom.

Dispelling an impression that the judiciary was overstepping its powers, Chief Justice of the Sindh High Court Mushir Alam said the constitution had empowered the judiciary to take up the issues of violation of fundamental rights and public interests, including fixing of essential commodities’ prices.

Besides the government, the judiciary and legal community must also play their roles to hold fair and free general election in the country, he said and added that the judiciary, being the custodian of the constitution, had been specifically equipped with powers to interpret the constitution and judicial review.

Justice Maqbool Baqar of the SHC said problems of people were growing day by day despite all-out efforts being made by the judiciary because the country was in the grip of terrorism and recession. However, he said, the judiciary had won the public confidence through its performance.

The outgoing president of the Karachi Bar Association, Mehmoodul Hasan, called upon the government to build a judicial complex to centralise all the subordinate judiciary of the city, including special courts and tribunals.