Strike culture has to be shunned to change system: LHC CJ

Calls for enhancing pace of work to bring about change in judiciary; says ‘Alternative Dispute Resolution’ will change entire judicial system

LAHORE: Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court (LHC) Syed Mansoor Ali Shah remarked on Tuesday that the pace of work will have to be increased and the strike culture in judiciary will have to be ended for bringing about a change in the judicial system.

He was speaking at the Punjab Judicial Academy function, held in connection with the setting up of the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) system in Punjab.The LHC CJ regretted that strikes had already damaged the judicial system badly. He hoped that the Alternative Dispute Resolution would be a game-changer in the judicial system.

The chief justice said they had to work fast to keep the system functional and the ADR would change the entire judicial system. However, he said, the strike culture must be ended because it had already damaged the judicial system badly. “ADR or any other modern system can’t work in the existence of the strike culture,” the chief justice said. He said lawyers observed strike on 1,474 days in the provincial judiciary, which badly affected the normal working of courts.

Justice Muhammad Anwarul Haq, Justice Sardar Muhammad Shamim Ahmad Khan, Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Shujaat Ali Khan, Justice Atir Mehmood, Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan, LHC Registrar Syed Khursheed Anwar Rizvi, other officials and senior lawyers were present on the occasion.

The CJ said they wanted to introduce reforms to the judicial system and international donors were also supporting them. He said he was happy that lawyers were with them and they had all agreed on changing the system. It was their collective responsibility to end the strike culture in the provincial judiciary, the chief justice said.