Lahore High Court Chief Justice Azmat Saeed has said people’s right to education, health and justice is enshrined in the constitution of Pakistan and they also have right to know details of government’s funding on these public welfare sectors.
The CJ was addressing the concluding ceremony of a week long in service capacity building training course for Additional District and Session Judges at Punjab Judicial Academy. Justice Sagheer Ahmad Qadri, presidents and office bearers of Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) and Lahore Bar Association (LBA) were also present on the occasion.
The CJ said courts were not soap manufacturing factories and were not expected to churn out cases like soap packets and every decision should be on merit and in accordance with the constitution. He said he was responsible even for the mistakes of a judicial officer therefore utmost care should be taken while deciding cases in view of the technicalities of law. There will be no compromise on dispensation of justice.
The CJ said number of cases was on the rise in the courts especially in the District Judiciary. There were 83 percent cases in the lower courts alone and per judge case ratio in the Punjab was highest as compared to other provinces.
According to latest details, there were 235 cases per civil judge in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 245 in Sindh but in Punjab there were more than 900 cases per civil judge. The CJ said there was a need to double the number of judges to slash down the case ratio to 450 a benchmark proposed by Law Reforms Committee some twenty years back.
The CJ said it was the responsibility of the state to provide funds for judiciary and people had the right to know resource allocation in judiciary, education and health sectors. With the present limited number of judges the only way to cope with the situation was capacity building of the judges.
The CJ said bench and bars were associated very closely and were inseparable limbs just as honour, future and livelihood were interlinked. Therefore every solution to the problem would be evolved jointly and amicably with the assistance of the Bar and even the deluge of problems will be surmounted with the cooperation of the members of the Bar, CJ concluded. Director General Punjab Judicial Academy, Justice (R) Tanveer Ahmad Khan and representative of the course participants, Muhammad Arif Rana also spoke on the occasion. The CJ also distributed certificates amongst the 30 Additional District and Session Judges. They include Muhammad Arif Rana, Muhammad Yaqoob, Qamar Sultan, Tariq Khurshid Khawaja, Aurangzeb, Shahbaz Ahmad, Zia Ullah Khan, Safdar Iqbal, Javed Iqbal Sheikh, Muhammad Ijaz Butt, Husnain Qadir, Syed Naveed Raza Bokhari, Hamid Hussain, Javed Iqbal Warraich, Anjum Raza Syed, Abher Gul Khan, Muhammad Aslam Bhatti, Sardar Muhammad Iqbal, Muhammad Ashraf, Muhammad Azam Rana, Muhammad Arshad Anjum, Jaleel Ahmad, Muhammad Ali, Shahbaz Raza, Nadeem Tahir Syed, Arshad Hussain, Muhammad Abdul Rafique, Muhammad Zafar Iqbal, Zia Ullah and Hyder Amin.
Tell them where their money is being spent: CJ
