Underperforming judges should be ‘shown the door’

Supreme Court Justice Mansoor Ali Shah on Saturday minced no words when he suggested that the judges, who were not performing well, should be shown the door. “We should not compromise on corrupt and underperforming judges,” he observed during his keynote speech at the two-day 5th edition of the Asma Jahangir Conference, titled ‘People’s Mandate: Safeguarding Civil Rights in South Asia’ organised in Lahore. “The courts must adopt the new age of information technology to create a smart dashboard of cases, change the judges’ appointment process where “sifarish” [nepotism] is not entertained and the method through which new [ones] are appointed is rigorous,” he noted. The SC judge acknowledged that there have been “dark patches” in the country’s judicial history and he was not proud of that “The judiciary must be transformed into a robust institution,” he remarked. He added that the judiciary was working with 4,000 judges in the country deciding cases every day. “But most of [these] judgments are not credible. The system is dysfunctional. It is sluggish and needs to be made expeditious.” The SC judge pointed out that presently there were more than two million pending cases in the country. “Currently, Pakistan’s judiciary is ranked 132rd in the world,” he added. He continued that he would not call this number of the country’s judiciary one to be proud of. Justice Shah observed that the country’s lower court judges could not tell them in which case they were facing a problem. “We have to make our judicial system a data analysis room.” The SC judge noted that the country would have look at the practice of the world. He emphasised the need to have more alternative dispute resolution (ADR) centres in the country’s courts. In Justice Shah’s opinion, the “best thing” to happen in the country’s judicial system was the SC Practice and Procedure Act, whereby a three-judge committee decides the formation of benches and the scheduling of cases. “It is a commendable improvement. We have to work towards leaving no room for individual adventurism.” The SC judge highlighted that there could not be any outside interference in the judiciary’s affairs. “Building a firewall around the judicial system is very important [to prevent that],” he noted. Justice Shah’s remarks came in the wake of the allegations made by six Islamabad High Court (IHC) judges in a letter to the Supreme Judicial Council against “interference” in judicial affairs by the intelligence apparatus. Dated March 25 this year, the letter, signed by IHC Justices Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Babar Sattar, Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan, Arbab Muhammad Tahir, and Saman Rafat Imtiaz, outlined seven instances of such alleged interference and intimidation by intelligence officials. The open letter, copies of which were distributed to all apex court judges, suggested the possibility of a judicial convention to discuss the interference of intelligence operatives with judicial functions and the intimidation of judges, which undermines judicial independence. During his address, the SC judge highlighted the importance of including women in the judiciary. “A critical perspective pertaining to women is missing in judiciary. There are only 562 female judges in Pakistan and that’s a number too small.” He also stressed the need for training judges.  

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