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Democracy can’t survive sans independent judiciary: CJ
ISLAMABAD: A full court reference was held on Thursday at the Supreme Court in honour of outgoing Chief Justice of Pakistan Tassaduq Hussain Jillani.
At the beginning of the meeting, the CJ welcomed the judges as well as Justice Umar Ata Bandial who was recently elevated as an SC judge and was attending the Full Court for the very first time.
The CJ said democracy cannot survive in the absence of an independent judiciary. He said the traditional judiciary had been buried forever. The purpose of the meeting was to review the performance of the Supreme Court in terms of dispensation of justice and disposal of cases and to deliberate on issues and matters pertaining to functioning of the court.
Discussing the issue of the overall institution, disposal and pendency of cases in the Supreme Court, the full court meeting noted that as against the institutional figure of 3,862 cases from 05.04.2014 to 30.06.2014, the court decided 3,533 cases during the said period. It was noted that there was a rising trend in the institution of cases.
On this occasion, Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa informed the Full Court that in the last six months, out of 3,700 criminal cases, 2,000 had been disposed of along with freshly-instituted cases, leaving only the pendency of 1,700 cases. The CJ noted that it was a remarkable disposal.
At the end of the meeting, the judges lauded the services rendered by Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani as the chief justice as well as a judge of the SC, who was going to lay down the robes of his office on 05.07.2014.
His tenure as the Chief Justice of Pakistan will always be remembered as a golden period of the judiciary in the history of Pakistan, they said. The CJ extended his gratitude to the judges and thanked them. He said due to the cooperation and support of the judges, it became possible for him to advance the cause of justice.
The meeting was attended by Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk, Justice Jawwad S Khawaja, Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany, Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry, Justice Gulzar Ahmed, Justice Muhammad Ather Saeed, Justice Sh Azmat Saeed, Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rahman, Justice Mushir Alam, Justice Dost Muhammad Khan and Justice Umar Ata Bandial. Syed TahirShahbaz, registrar SC, also attended the meeting. Earlier, CJ Jillani administered the oath of the office to Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali as the acting Chief Election Commissioner in a ceremony.
Judges of the SC, the attorney general for Pakistan, officers of the Election Commission of Pakistan, prominent lawyers and law officers also attended the ceremony. Syed Tahir Shahbaz conducted the proceedings of the oath-taking ceremony. Officers and staff of the SC were also present on the occasion.Courtesy www.thenews.com.pk