LHC CJ rules out politics in administering justice

MULTAN: LHC Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah on Saturday said there is no room for politics in administering justice to litigants.

Addressing the 150-year celebrations of the Lahore High Court at the LHC (Multan bench), he said the role of judges and bars was defined and politics becomes a hurdle to the early justice for litigants.

He said: “Top priority should be given to the institution of judiciary because its sacredness is matchless.”

The CJ said not a personality but an institution is important and we should all contribute to its strength instead of wasting time in politically motivated issues.  He said the role of judges was defined and they were bound to decide matters according to law and strong faith in God.  The CJ said the judges were bound to decide matters in the best of the best way and issue model verdicts.

He said bars associations' role was also defined and they are bound to argue cases with logic and knowledge and present model of arguments. It is the sole duty of lawyers to present the best definition of law and politics has no role in the whole system.  He said politics had badly affected litigants in the process of getting justice.

The CJ said judiciary is one of the strongest institutions of the country and it stands at the number one position among all the institutions.

He said politics does not suit the judiciary and the whole judicial system should be free from it. The CJ said the Punjab and Pakistan Bar Councils have their role to assess lawyers and their capabilities in providing justice to litigants. He said the bar associations have an important and key role in running the judicial system smoothly to decide the case of a layman early.  He stressed the need to strengthening the institution of judiciary.

The CJ said the whole judicial system was upgraded and the most modern technologies are introduced for swift justice.

He said Rs100 million had been spent on introducing the Alternate Dispute Resolution system in Lahore. The mobile applications, audit system, case system and information technology are introduced in the LHC. The automation of LHC has been in process, he maintained. 

The CJ said if the litigants failed to get justice, lawyers would be responsible for it.

The lawyers and judiciary should perform their respective roles according to the Constitution and de-tracking from the role would be harmful to the judicial system, he maintained.

All the stakeholders, including bar and bench, are the real owners of the judicial system. He paid special thanks to Alipur, Bahawalpur and Vehari bars office-bearers.

LHC Judge Justice Shahid Mehmood Dar, Justice Ali Baqir Najfi, Multan District and Sessions Judge Shakil Ahmed also spoke on the occasion.