SUPREME JUDICIAL COUNCIL—A NEW ERA

SUPREME JUDICIAL COUNCIL A NEW ERA SUPREME JUDICIAL COUNCIL A NEW ERA By Akhtar Ali Kureshi, Assistant Advocate-General, Punjab On 24th September, 2005, the Chief Justice of Pakistan presided over the meeting, of Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) which was not functioning for the last about two decades and representatives of legal fraternity were demanding of its restoration. The Chief Justice of Pakistan is taking good steps towards ensuring the justice to all segments of the society as earlier priority was set to those cases in which some kind of urgency was involved and arrangements were being made to level the backlog. Recent elevation of three permanent and two ad hoc Judges to the Supreme Court is another milestone to meet the full strength of august Court. All these steps are highly appreciable and no doubt have long lasting impact on our judicial system. Under Article 209 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan; there shall be a Supreme Judicial Council headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan, two next senior most Judges of Supreme Court and two senior most Chief Justices of High Courts, presently the Chief Justice of Lahore High Court Mr. Justice Iftikhar Hussain Chaudhry and Chief Justice Peshawar High Court Mr. Justice Tariq Pervaiz Khan are members of the Council. A constitutional protection is provided to the Judges of Supreme Court and High Courts regarding their appointments and Judges of the higher judiciary shall not be removed from their offices except as provided under the Article 209. On the information received from the Council or from any other source if the President is of the opinion that a Judge of the Supreme Court or of a High Court is incapable of properly performing the duties of his office by reason of Physical or mental incapacity or may be guilty of misconduct; the President shall direct the Council to inquire into the matter. If after Inquiring the matter the Council reports to the President that it is of the Opinion that the Judge is incapable of performing the duties of the office or has been guilty of misconduct and thus he should be removed from Office; the President may remove the Judge from his office. In the council the opinion of the majority shall prevail and the Council shall issue a Code of Conduct to be observed by the Judges of the Supreme Court and of the High Courts. For the purposes of inquiring into any matter, the Council shall have the same powers as the Supreme Court as to issue direction or order for securing the attendance of any person or the discovery or production of any document. The provisions of Article 204 shall also apply to the Council as they apply to Supreme Court and a High Court for issuing of notice of contempt proceeding for those who disobey the order of the Council, In order to save integrity of the Council and the proceedings before the Council, its report to the President and removal of a Judge under clause (6) of Article 209 shall not be called in question in any Court of Pakistan. The last case which was taken up by SJC in 1971 against Mr. Justice Shoukat Ali and after detailed hearing it was held to remove him from his office on the ground of misconduct; he was represented by Mr. Manzoor Qadir and M. Anwar Advocates while Sharif-ur-Din Pirzada appeared as Attorney General. The citation is Mr. President, (Referring Authority) v. Mr. Justice Shoukat Ali PLD 1971 SC 585. Another case was reported in PLD 1960 SC 26 titled The State v. Mr. Justice Akhlaque Hussain, Judge of the High Court of West Pakistan, in which SJC reported the President to remove the Respondent Judge on the ground of misbehaviour. The judiciary being the third pillar of the Government and having equal liability to deliver justice to the general public, the public of Pakistan expects more from the Supreme Court and High Courts in order to ensure supremacy of law and high level of personal integrity. No doubt there can be no remarkable system without having check and balance and legal procedure to remind their conscience of their duties and the Constitution of Pakistan has given ample power to the Supreme Court and High Courts to interpret the Constitution and the Supreme Court has authority of judicial review of all actions taken by the Government and can even declare the law unconstitutional and ultra vires passed by Parliament as recent judgment of SC titled as "Ch. Muhammad Siddiqui and 2 others v. The Government of the Punjab through Ministry of Law" in which the Act passed by Punjab Assembly on Punjab Marriage Functions (Prohibition of Ostentatious Display and Wasteful Expenses) Act, 2003 has been declared unconstitutional and struck down. In a developing country like Pakistan where majority of the public is very much conscious on being treated as under privileged class and number of cases have been registered against the high officials and well-off families. It is common to observe in Pakistan that public at large Continue ..