‘Only good Muslims make good judges’

Chief justice asks judges to dispense justice ‘without fear or favour’.

LAHORE: “Only a true Muslim can be a good judge, who being God fearing is deemed to be fit to dispense justice without coming under any pressure or influence,” Lahore High Court Chief Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry said on Friday.

The chief justice was addressing a batch of 53 civil judges-cum-judicial magistrates at the ceremony held at the Judicial Academy after the completion of their pre-posting judicial training.  Speaking on the occasion, the CJ said it was unfortunate that the society has a culture of lying. He said that this corrupts the litigation stage, where people lodge bogus cases and give false statements even under oath. All this, Justice Chaudhry pointed out makes it tougher for the judges to dispense justice.

The CJ advised the civil judges to take it as a challenge and try their best to be just. “Listen to arguments of both the parties in detail,” the chief justice advised. He also asked the new batch of judges to dispense justice “without fear or favour”. “Prove by your conduct that you were appointed on merit,” he said, adding, “Becoming a judge is not everybody’s cup of tea. Those who do become judges are lucky.”

Several retired and serving judges of the Lahore High Court including Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed, Justice (retired) Khalil ur Rehman Khan, Justice (retired) Nasira Iqbal attended the ceremony.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 8^th, 2011.