Selection of Judges
By Col. Riaz Jafri (Retd)
Westridge, Rawalpindi
Addressing a batch of trainee civil judges and judicial magistrates, CJP Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar said that the pre-service training at the Federal Judicial Academy was to enhance their knowledge and build up their personality. Advising them further, he said, ”In dispensation of justice, independence, politeness and modesty are the qualities, which make a judicial officer successful in public eyes.” The trainee judges, which included a few ladies, looked to be a promising and smart lot. However, in my estimation a training period of six weeks at the Judicial Academy seems to be insufficient to “enhance their knowledge or build up their personalities”, unless these were present in them at the time of their selection and were further groomed to some extent during their training.
In six weeks they can at best be familiarized with the working procedures of the courts at various levels and teach them how to conduct themselves in and out of the court rooms. Since they would be entrusted with the most onerous task of dispensing justice without fear or favor, impartially and based entirely on the merit of the case before them, I am sure great care must have been taken in their selection for this very noble profession.
The judge is the pillar of the entire judicial system, and the public has a right to demand virtually an irreproachable conduct from them. Judges are expected to strive for the highest standards of integrity in both their professional and personal lives. They should be knowledgeable, know the law very well and able to write decisions that are clear and cogent. Their judgment should be sound that could stand up to close scrutiny and as far as possible not reversed by the higher courts. Judges should not be only fair and open-minded but also appear to be fair and open-minded. They should be good listeners but when required, be able to ask questions that get to the bottom of the issue. They should be courteous in the courtroom but firm when necessary to rein in a rambling lawyer, a disrespectful litigant or an unruly spectator. A judge should not be only self-confident himself but the litigants must also have the confidence in him and his fair and impartial justice. It is not easy for a mortal being to measure up to these qualities as doing justice is a divine act.
I do not know much about the selection procedure of the judges and whether apart from testing their academic and professional knowledge are they also given any intelligence and psychological tests to fathom out their personality traits like their IQ level, uptake, memory, ability to grasp the essentials, logical approach, ability to sift the facts, cool headedness and balanced mind, not given to emotions, ability to work long hours under telling conditions etc. And, their character traits like justice, honesty, being firm and fair, impartiality, integrity, morality, strength of character, ability to withstand pressure (sifarish), monetary and other worldly temptations, and God fearing etc. If not, I would strongly suggest them to be subjected to the specially tailored psychological tests to gauge the strength of moral fibre they are made up of as a lot depends upon them and their conduct which could rightly make or mar a nation.
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