‘Courts need better working environment’

IHC chief justice calls on judges to keep their priorities straight in order to dispense justice to people

ISLAMABAD: Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Athar Minhallah said on Saturday that the litigants were the real party in the judicial system.

“Judges must always keep their priorities straight to serve justice to the people,” he said speaking at the closing ceremony of the Leadership And Management Course of District and Session Judges.

Justice Minallah said that he understood the difficulties faced by the district judges while performing their duties.



He had barred the media from live coverage and recording during his address. Justice Minallah expressed the opinion that such open address is against the judges’ code of conduct after which the media turned off the recording and cameras.

While pointing out the difficulties faced by the applicants, he urged the Islamabad administration to overcome lack of basic facilities at courts.

He reminded the participants of the attacks made on the Islamabad court in the past and said that it is still a security threat as reported by the intelligence agencies.

He emphasised on improving the working environment in the courts and hiring educated staff members. He held sycophancy responsible for the destruction of society and lamented that it leaves a big responsibility on the leadership quality of judges.

Director General Judicial Academy Hayat Ali Shah said while addressing the ceremony said that the judges must come up to the expectations after a successful lawyers movement. He stressed on the district and session judges to work hard in order to release some pressure on the upper courts. The ceremony ended with the distribution of certificates to the participant judges. The course started on January 7 and ended today. It involved judges from all provinces including AJK and GB.

Security threat at district courts

The Islamabad Police, meanwhile, has written to a district and sessions judge, that the illegal chambers built by the lawyers in the kutchery had made it impossible to provide security to the district courts.

In the letter, the police stated that lawyers have encroached on the main entry points to the Sector F-8 Kutchery and want to bring in construction material to build their chambers.

Noting that the district courts have already suffered two devastating suicide bombings in the recent past, the construction of the illegal chambers would compromise the security of judges and litigants.

Hence, the police said that should an incident take place in the district courts, the responsibility for it would fall squarely on the lawyers. 

Published in The Express Tribune, January 13^th, 2019.