Every member of our (elite) public, in general, needs to know our judicial system very clearly. And, in particular, every member of our polity and every member of the bar and bench should know it with utmost clarity. From the statements of the classes mentioned above, not only in the print media but also in the electronic ones, it seems that not all of them have bothered to educate themselves in this behalf. Let it be known that the Supreme Court of Pakistan has no power of superintendence over any court in Pakistan. It can only hear appeals, in some cases compulsorily and in others by its leave, from the judgements of the High Courts and the Federal Shariat Court. Administratively, none of these courts is subordinate to the Supreme Court. Nor are the chief justices of these courts subordinate to the Chief Justice of Pakistan in any respect. It should be clearly understood that in the matter of his (or her) judicial decision, no judge is subordinate even to the chief justice. The chief justice is the first among all the judges of his (or her) court, not their boss. In the judicial matters, a judge, regardless of whether he (or she) is a member of the subordinate judiciary or the superior judiciary, is not subordinate to any mundane authority whatsoever. This applies also to magistrates. It is a matter of common knowledge that corruption is rampant in our judiciary. Exceptions are few and far between. This is unfortunate. Corruption does not necessarily mean only monetary corruption. Any judicial decision influenced by a consideration extraneous to the merits of the case is a corrupt decision. A corrupt court is a contradiction in terms. But our national temperament is such that we are tolerating it. Nay, we are adjusting to it instead of protesting against it. What a shame. I have recently read in an esteemed newspaper that the Chief Justice of Pakistan wants to eradicate corruption from the judiciary. We must admire his pious thought. But he has no authority over any court except his own. So, he had better confine himself to his own court if he can. Playing to the gallery does not always help. There is great wisdom in not exceeding one's own jurisdiction or authority. In the past, one of our ex-chief justices constituted a committee (not mentioned in the constitution) called the chief justices. Committee headed by himself. The other chief justices should have refused to attend the meetings of that committee to assert their administrative independence from the Supreme Court or its chief justice. But they did attend either out of courtesy or out of ignorance or because of their attitude which can be best described by the Punjabi saying: Chaddo ji ki panga layna Such indifference to the constitution and one's own constitutional authority is bound to confuse the general (lay) public as well as some members of the government. Not only the words but also the acts of the members of the superior judiciary will either educate the public or confuse them. So it is necessary that such members should always be careful as to what they say and what they do in their official capacity. It is a great responsibility. May God help us all. The writer is a retired judge of the Lahore High Court. E-mail: samdani1_2000@yahoo.com