Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Saturday stated that the constitution is treated as mother of all laws and the courts in Pakistan are upholders of rule of law.
He said this while addressing a certificate awarding ceremony of a one-week refresher course titles “Sessions trial and appreciation of evidence” for Additional District and Session Judges from all over Pakistan, including Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
The chief justice congratulated the participants of the refresher course who had successfully completed the training.
He said that after a cumbersome exercise in trial the efforts of a judge culminate into judgment and the judgment should be well thought out, analytical, based on evidence and free from grammatical errors. It should be transparent and persuading for the loser of the case.
“The criminal justice system in our jurisdiction is not unitary in nature. Its different components, namely investigation agency and prosecution, all are striving to achieve a common objective. So the judicial officers administering criminal justice are advised to acquaint themselves not only with the substantive and procedural laws but also the salutary police rules, science and modern techniques of investigation like forensic, medicine, DNA, finger prints, hand writing, cyber laws and prison rules”, the chief justice stated.
“The Federal Judicial Academy would very soon be converted into a center of excellence and after the completion of construction of phase-II the Academy will be upgraded to the status of a Federal University of Law and Judicial Administration. Its charter for approval is under process with the quarters concerned. This project, on completion, will open new avenues of education and training for judicial officers”, the chief justice stated.
He said the academy should periodically revise its curricula to meet the needs of changing circumstances.
“One of its major aims should be faculty development for which ‘train-the-trainers’ courses should be arranged. Instead of continuing conventional methods of lecturing, the faculty should lay stress on case study and mentoring”, the chief justice added.
“With the implementation of the National Judicial Policy, the backlog has been cut to a considerably small size. I am proud of my district judiciary which is the back bone of our judicial system as justice at a grass root level is provided by it”, he stated.