Lahore High Court Chief Justice Azmat Saeed has said that the capacity-building of judges is a pre-requisite to cope with huge backlog of cases in the province by re-building and transforming their capabilities.
The CJ was delivering his presidential address at the concluding In-service Training Course for District and Sessions Judges at Punjab Judicial Academy on Saturday. Justice Sagheer Ahmad Qadri and Justice Manzoor Ahmad Malik, members of Board of Management of Punjab Judicial Academy, Justice Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, Justice Muhammad Anwarul Haq, Registrar Sohail Nasir, Punjab Advocate General Ashtar Ausaf Ali, Lahore High Court Bar Association President Shahram Sawar and Lahore Bar Association President Ch Zulfiqar Ali were also present on the occasion.
“Forget the Western countries and even India, the number of cases per civil judge in other provinces is about 250, whereas, their counter part in the Punjab were burdened with 1200 cases,” he said, adding that “in such a situation with scant resources, the best we can do is build our capacity to cope with the work load.” He said he trusted the lawyers and the judges, adding that everyone had to do his duty and a strict commitment was needed and if someone could not cope, they should switch profession.
“We have to change our mindset we are in the 20 century. We need to cover the distance of months within days because time waits for none,” he said.
“Learning the law is a continuous process and one who stops learning stops growing,” the CJ said, adding that the judges should increase their knowledge of other fields also because they were confronted with different cases with different problems. He said they should also be well-versed in communication and in technical skills to satisfy people, adding that the judges who wanted to act like officers should quit judiciary.
“The history of our judiciary is not enviable, there have been misdeeds and mistakes,” he said. The CJ also distributed certificates to the 23 participants. Justice Khan and others also spoke on the occasion.
