ISLAMABAD - Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar on Saturday vowed to protect democracy, categorically rejecting the allegations that judiciary was playing a part in some undemocratic plan.
The judiciary will dispense justice across the board without any fear and favour, he said, as he urged all the judges to work with devotion and punish the perpetrators of white collar crime without fear.
Defending suo motu actions he has taken, the chief justice also said he will make it sure that the basic rights of the citizens are protected, as it is “a duty of judiciary” which can’t be ignored.
Justice Nisar was addressing the National Judicial Policymaking Committee (NJPC) meeting held here at the Auditorium Hall of the Supreme Court. The CJP is also chairman of the NJPMC.
The meeting was convened to review the performance of the judiciary and was attended by the judges belonging to special tribunals and administrative courts. It was attended by chief justices of the Federal Shariat Court, as well as of the high courts.
Referring to allegations being levelled by disqualified prime minister Nawaz Sharif and some other members of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, he said the judges were not a part any sneaky undemocratic scheme.
Accepting that in the past the judiciary did made some mistakes, he said that the institution would have to hold itself accountable as well.
“We will not let anyone suffer from injustice,” he said. “The judiciary and the courts pose no threat to democracy,” the CJP held, adding that the judiciary would not allow the democracy to get derailed.
“I will not be staying [on this post] if democracy is ever derailed [in the country],” Justice Nisar declared.
At the same time however, the chief justice told the judges not to come under any pressure from the allegations being levelled against them.
He specifically asked the judges of the accountability courts and anti-terrorism courts to punish the big fish and perpetrators of white-collar crime without fear.
Without taking name of PML-N leader Nehal Hashmi, he said “there will be people who threaten the system and might claim that they will make your children’s lives difficult, but you have to bring these people to account.”
Justice Nisar also asked all the judges to protect the fundamental rights of the citizens. “Fundamental rights of the people cannot and should not be compromised, it is [the] duty of [the] judges and lawyers to ensure that justice is being delivered [to the people],” he said.
He asked the judges to ensure delivery of quality justice and appealed to them to never let emotion’s influence their verdicts. “The judiciary is independent, our verdicts should be independent as well,” the CJP said.
The CJP lauded the tribunal court judges, saying that he values and respects them just as much as those in the mainstream. “Tribunal judges should not consider themselves ignored,” he said.
He also said there was no difference between a judge of a lower court and the chief justice. “The judges can only be distinguished from their peers by the ‘level of attention’ they pay to details of the cases they hear, before passing verdicts,” he said.
Justice Nisar admitted that the judiciary was facing numerous challenges but urged everyone in the legal profession to do the best they could in the given circumstances.
He maintained that courts were an important pillar of any state, if a pillar does not perform well then the state would become imbalanced.
The chief justice advised the judges to work enough to justify their earning. He said that a judge of the high court draws a monthly salary of Rs0.9 million i.e. almost Rs40,000 daily, while the salary of a supreme court judge is even higher.
“You have to serve the nation with full honesty. You have to work with passion. You have to take decisions objectively based on facts,” the CJP said.
He reiterated that the parliament was the supreme body of the country. “Constitution is the supreme document, supreme body is parliament, laws are made by parliament,” Justice Nisar said.
However, he questioned the relevance of the legal structure made during the British Raj that has not been revamped by the parliament to serve the modern day needs.
“Has the law(s) been updated to meet the current scenarios? [And] people complain that judiciary receives so much money, but ‘no work’ is being done,” Justice Nisar remarked.
“[However] we have to work as per the existing laws, and it is the responsibility of the judges to make sure that justice prevails. We are not going to wait for the laws of tomorrow, we have to do with the laws of today to ensure that justice is being delivered,” he said, to a room full of applause.
All judges need to follow Article 4 of the Constitution, the CJP stressed. Article 4 states, “Right of individuals to be dealt with in accordance with law etc... There should be punishment for judges who don’t comply by Article 4 of Constitution.”
Commenting on the current inflow of cases, the CJP said, “Cases have come to me whose judgments haven’t been passed in years, these cases come to me, and when I act severely, the cases go in retrials. The lawyers want to argue more and keep the cases going. I urge you not do this. Please rule in favour of justice no matter what.”
The CJP urged all lawyers and judges present there to take an oath and promise that when they exit this meeting, their prime agenda will be delivery of justice under the command of the law and obeying it unconditionally.
The chief justices of the high courts informed the meeting about institution, disposal, pendency of cases and status of vacant posts in the administrative tribunals/special courts in 2017.
Justice Nisar stated that the chairmen and presiding officers of the administrative tribunals/special courts are part and parcel of adjudicature.
He emphasised that the special courts should work with passion, devotion and in accordance with law in meeting targets and moreover, in meeting this end shortage of staff should not be an obstacle.
Furthermore, Justice Nisar emphasised that after hearing arguments, judgements should be passed in one month.
Justice Nisar informed that he took up the issue of the disposal rate of administrative tribunals/ special courts in the NJPMC meeting on May 13, 2017, and consequently this meeting has been called.
He informed the meeting that the issue of vacant posts in administrative tribunals/special courts has been taken up on the judicial side in the Supreme Court and a number of slots have been filled.
The chief justice also stated that in case the presiding officers of the administrative tribunals/special courts have any issues regarding their pay, perks and privileges, the same may be communicated through high courts.
Justice Nisar further stated that the infrastructure of the administrative tribunals/special courts required improvement, and all the special courts should be located in one place, moreover, staff of the special courts should be under the administrative control of the presiding officers.