News
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Protection of law inalienable right of every citizen: CJPStaff Report
ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Monday observed that it was the inalienable right of every citizen to enjoy the protection of law and to be treated in accordance with law.
It is your duty to perform your functions in such a manner as are required by the letter and spirit of law, said the CJP addressing young civil servants. “The responsibilities of every State functionary are given by the law and to perform such duty certain discretionary powers are also entrusted,” he said adding, these powers are given to discharge the duties for the benefit of the country.
The CJP said that there was a complete system of accountability and the exercise of discretionary powers is to be fully accountable on the touchstone of rule of law, fairness and public good.
A 42 members delegation of section officers belonging to Office Management Group (OMG) batch with seven faculty members of Secretariat Training Institute (STI), Islamabad called on the CJP at the apex court.
In his address to the delegation, the CJP showed his pleasure to address young officers who achieved success in the most competitive Civil Services Examination and as such are undergoing training. He said that the Institution of Civil Services comprises various occupational groups. Every occupational group has to perform an important function for smooth administration of the country. The whole idea of conducting competitive examination by the Public Service Commission is to provide equal opportunities to all eligible candidates and let the best and the brightest be inducted into the Civil Service and serve the nation.
The CJP hoped that the officers will fully utilise this once in a life time opportunity to learn the basic skills required to make them professionally competent officers to take on the challenge of administrating a state in a very challenging environment. He said that the OMG officers were inducted and trained for working in various ministries and divisions of the Federal Government. This is both an honor for them to work at the highest level for the state of Pakistan and it also puts an extra responsibility on them to fully learn the skills necessary to deliver in a most effective manner, he added.
Our history tells us the fact that despite constant political instability and military interventions, we have been able to achieve certain level of progress primarily because we had the tradition of neutral and impartial administration run by competent and trained bureaucrats, the CJP. “Regretfully though this tradition could not sustain and resultantly, the “steel frame” of state governance and administration was shaken,” he said, adding, as a consequence, there was an erosion of public trust and confidence in the capacity and ability of the Civil Service to deliver and serve the aims and ideals of their institution but this is time for retrospection to know as to how and why it happened and how to retrieve ourselves from the declining course of civil administration.
Quoting founder of Pakistan, CJP said “You have to do your duty as servants; you are not connected with this political or that political party; that is not your business.” He further said civil service might be considered like a wheel on which the chariot of the State moves. “The members of a civil service with a right mix of qualities of both the head and the heart are always needed”, he added.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk