Every judge has some tilt: CJP

Islamabad: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa Monday said that earlier the decision of the case was told by looking at the bench.

Addressing the full court reference, he stated that on such occasions, it is looked at how the performance of the institution has been. The representatives of the Attorney General and the Bar have told how the performance can be improved. After nine days, one year of my service will be completed. When I became the Chief Justice, I called the full court for the first time in four years.

He added: “I also started broadcasting the proceedings of the Supreme Court live. The first case that was shown live was the Practice and Procedure Act which was heard by the full court. After this decision, the authority was transferred from the Chief Justice to three judges”.

CJP further said that earlier, it was known what the decision of the case would be by seeing the bench, now I don't even know which judges will hear the case with me.

He also stated that earlier the cause list used to go to the Chief Justice for approval, now this is not the case. Every judge has some tilt, so it can be estimated that if the case comes before a judge, then who will get the benefit. Every lawyer wanted his case to be taken to such and such judge, and it also ended. It does not mean that the lawyer has any connection with the judge but he knows the tendency of that judge, therefore, we abolished this system.

Justice Qazi Faez Isa said that now the authority to form benches is not only of the Chief Justice, the second thing was the monthly cause list. I was surprisingly informed that a case is starting tomorrow. The registry has the facility to hear the case, but now the monthly cause list has started, now the lawyers know when the case will be heard and we will try to release the cause list every two weeks for the convenience of the lawyers.

He stated that some people believe more about the prosecution, and some look with doubt, this thing is present in every system of the world, these things are learned with experience. If the cases are scheduled with care, there will be no transparency.

Qazi Faez Isa said that everyone wants their cases to be heard immediately. There are queues, if a person is in the queue, he does not have any problem whether he gets the number after two years or three. He would have had a problem, if someone would suddenly appear before me in the queue. Certain types of cases registered in the law to be heard early are given priority, including cases of child custody.

Chief Justice continued to say that the first-come formula is used in this regard, now we have to fulfill the requirements of the Supreme Court Procedure Act. Some old journalists say that if the Chief Justice did not schedule a case, he could no longer schedule it. Now a committee does and for transparency, the decisions of the committee are posted on the Supreme Court website which can be read. Make comments based on facts and not on assumptions. The journalist should speak the truth and I am not saying it as a judge.

He said that first I held a full court meeting and a full court was formed. My next step was dismission of deputationists sitting here. Their law says that a deputationist can come for three years and one year can be added to it, not more than that. The negative result of this sitting was that the promotion of the Supreme Court employees was stopped, after that 146 employees were promoted.

According to the Chief Justice, one thing that is not paid attention to is that you and we are for the people who want their cases to be decided as soon as possible and money not to be wasted. This was also controlled. It is embarrassing to say this but it must be said that a 3000 cc Mercedes-Benz is not needed for the Chief Justice, the bulletproof Land Cruiser was also returned and the government was requested to sell it and buy buses for the public. We have no problem using Toyota, these are also vehicles worth million, so these are small things and we can do that.

He said that this money is the trust of the people and we have to see whether we can save it or not. The Attorney General mentioned about the different courts, there are civil courts, district courts, and high courts. And there are also federal courts that include the Customs Appellate Tribunal, NAB Court, Sales Tax Appellate Tribunal, Accountability Court, etc. There are 36 such federal courts in Karachi alone, none of their buildings are proper and their records are safe. Only one or two of them are in government buildings but the rest are in private buildings, so the public is also burdened to pay their rent.