LAHORE: Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice (CJ) Mansoor Ali Shah on Sunday attended a session of the two-day literary festival, titled ‘Afkar-e-Taza’, regarding the law and history of LHC, held at the Alhamra Arts Council.
The session focused on the launch of a book, titled ‘Upholding the Rule of Law-The History of Lahore High Court’. The chief justice thanked Dr Yaqoob Bangash, Faqeer Aijazuddin, Kamil Khan Mumtaz and Saad Rasool for lending a helping hand during the writing of the book.
He said that before this book, we never had a proper book on the laws governing LHC, except the one written by Sidhwa that discussed the history of the court. He also said that the idea behind launching the book was to spread awareness among the public regarding the working of the justice system.
Shah further said that courts worked as a powerful protective shield for the general public to protect their fundamental rights. He said that the general perception about the laxity of courts was wrong as last year around 200,000 cases were decided by LHC and district courts respectively. He said that cases were usually slow due to a shortage of judges.
He also said that according to the recently concluded population census data of Punjab, the population was estimated at 110 million, which meant that one judge was hearing the cases of around 1.8 million people at the high court level, while one judge was hearing cases of 62,000 people at the district level.
Moreover, the chief justice said that the case list of judges should be limited to five or six cases per international standards, which presently stood at 150 cases. He said that to ensure that the load on judges was decreased, around 10,000 more judges at the district level were required, he added.
He spoke at length about the present administrative structure and the jurisdiction of LHC. He also apprised the audience about the background of the constitutional/writ jurisdiction of LHC. Talking about the book, he said it comprised of six chapters, adding that the last chapter was written by him and discussed the future prospects of the justice system.
He further elaborated that the book was printed in a coffee table format to engage young and old readers alike. Speaking on the occasion, Justice Yawar Ali said that the history of LHC was enriched by illustrious judges who handed down marvellous judgements that acted as a beacon of light for other judges.
The event was also attended by Senior Judge Justice Mohammad Yawar Ali, Justice Sardar Mohammad Shamim Ahmad Khan, Justice Ameenuddin Khan, LHC Registrar Syed Khurshid Anwar Rizwi, District Judiciary Director Mohammad Akmal Khan and Lahore Sessions Judge Justice Abid Hussain Qureshi.
