CJ directs courts not to ignore principle of fair trial
By Waseem Ahmad Shah
2014-01-14
PESHAWAR: Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Tassadug Hussain Jillani said on Monday that courts should keep in mind the right of fair trial as guaranteed in the Constitution while taking suo moto notice of an issue.
The chief justice said that the principle of fair trial as mentioned in Article 10-A of Constitution should not be ignored at any stage and the judges should avoid giving such observation, which could defame an individual or affect his right to fair trial.
Justice Jillani was on a day-long visit to the provincial capital during which he inaugurated the e-citizens grievance redress system at Peshawar High Court`s human rights directorate and distributed certificates among the civil judges after completion of training course at Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Judicial Academy.On these occasions the senior puisne judge of Supreme Court Justice Nasirul Mulk, Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan, senior puisne judge Justice Mian Fasihul Mulk and other judges were also present.
`Pakistan is a developing country and in our march towards development, we are confronted with a host of issues and problems -poverty, mass unemployment, weak infrastructure, lack or erosion of institutions, rural-urban migration, absence of adequate social amenities, issues of sustainable development, corruption and poor governance,` the chief justice said, adding that to meet those challenges, each organ of the state had to play its role but the key factor in that struggle was good governance.
`The two concepts of good governance and rule of law are interrelated. Without a fair and effective judiciary based on the rule of law, good governance would remain an illusive goal,` Justice Jillani said.
He said that an a system of representative democracy and in the wake of a revolution of rising expectations, the judiciary was no longer a mere dispute resolution in-stitution but was also a socio-constitutional catalyst wherein it along with other institutions played a pivotal role in shaping the life of community and its citizens through enforcement of rule of law.
The chief justice added that the dimension of judiciary`s role had assumed greater importance in contemporary age and required special attention of judicial educators and judges.
`The judicial system needs reforms. To ensure that dispensation of justice is not delayed, special courses have to be designed for case management so that besides inexpensive justice, there is a qualitative improvement and public confidence is restored in the institution,` he said.
He stated that in order to train judges, to resolve conflict and decide cases, one had to keep in mind the nature of disputes, social values and the mandate of law. Therefore, he added, while carrying out need assessment to design courses in judicial education, amongst other things, the social context also had to be kept in view.
`The Constitution of Pakistan is based on the principle of trichotomy of powers. Thefunctions of legislature, executive and judiciary are well defined and delineated.
While the function of judiciary is basically to adjudicate, it is for the legislature to enact laws,` Justice Jillani said.
`The judiciary has yet another role as well i.e. of suggesting judicial reforms in procedure and at times in substantive laws.
The provision of research wing in the academy is reflective of that role.
The chief justice lauded setting up of ecitizens grievance redress system in the human rights directorate and expressed the hope that due to it the pace of disposal in the directorate would further expedite. He said that a wing was set up in the Supreme Court for addressing problems of overseas Pakistanis and the high court might also set up such a wing.
On the occasion, PHC Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan said that within two years of its inception the human rights directorate received around 9,000 applications out of which around 7,000 were disposed of.
Following setting up of the e-system, he said, an applicant could approach the directorate through e-mail, telephone and SMS.