Lahore High Court Chief Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed has said the legal problems of the 21st century cannot be solved with the old legal system that is operational in the country.
He expressed these view while addressing a gathering of lawyers at a reception ceremony held by Punjab Bar Council (PBC) for hailing his appointment as chief justice of LHC. A number of LHC judges and LHC registrar, PBC Vice chairman Lehraseb Gondal, Executive Committee Chairman Zafar Mehmood Mughal, Seminar and Symposium Committee Chairman Amjad Ali Bajwa were present.
Asking the lawyers’ community to support him in improving the judicial system, the CJ said the masses were the stakeholders and they were looking towards courts and the bar for justice and it will only be possible with cooperation between the bench and the bar. “Come with me and cooperate with me, together we can revamp the entire legal and judicial system,” the CJ said.
Discussing the judicial policy, he said speedy disposal of cases aims at assuring that the parties were given due justice.
He said “it is not a cricket match in which we have to count the score rather it is a sacred trust vested in the court.”
He said the litigants, lawyers, and judges were three components of the legal and judicial system in which lawyers play the basic role.
Giving a guiding principle to judges, he said no case should be decided without listening to version of the accused because the accused, too, had the basic constitutional right to be heard properly in a case against him.
He admitted that if facilities were given to lawyers, they could better assist courts in dispensing justice and ease out both the judges and the litigants. “I never claimed to be a man of perfect wisdom and I will improve the things with consultation of lawyers, bar associations and the bar council,” the CJ said, adding that a map was required before the construction of a house and a map was needed also to revamp the system.
Earlier, District Bar Association President Shahzad Hussan Sheikh addressing the reception ceremony.