Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry said on Monday that the successive constitutional deviations served no purpose except to retard the advancement towards political stability and national integrity. “Passing through the vicissitudes of time, the judiciary learnt its lesson, the hard way indeed, and came to the conclusion that as a creation of the constitution and mandated to preserve, protect and defend this fundamental law and having the authority to explain and interpret its provisions, it will always stand by the constitution,” the CJP said while addressing a ceremony to mark the start of the new judicial year. He said this had been the recurring thought through successive judgements of the court during the recent past.
JUDICIARY’S INDEPENDENCE:The CJP advised the judges of superior courts against acceptance of reemployment opportunities after retirement to uphold the principle of the independence of judiciary. He said retired judges received a reasonable compensation package as commutation, as well as pensions, therefore they should not aspire for reemployment. “Even otherwise, the constitution places a bar on such reemployment. Article 207 of the constitution stipulates that a retired judge of superior courts shall not hold any office of profit in the service of Pakistan before the expiration of two years after his retirement,” he added.
In his speech, Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq highlighted the important cases disposed of by the apex court in the last judicial year including human rights cases of tens of thousands of contractual employees, the Reko Diq case, Mukhtaran Mai case, along with passing an order in the Haj arrangements case which would go a long way to define the limits of the executive and judicial organs of the state. SCBA President Asma Jahangir said that public interest litigation was a valuable tool that the judiciary could use for the empowerment of the vulnerable and the disadvantaged, and the bar therefore wholeheartedly support it. Nevertheless, PIL should neither become an “unruly horse” nor should it be applied selectively, she added.
Judiciary has learnt its lesson the hard way: CJP
