System heading towards massive collapse: SC

It seems that the system is fast heading towards a massive collapse, Justice Jawad S Khawaja remarked on Friday during the proceedings of the Justice (retd) Sajjad Ali Shah case.

A five-member larger bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Justice Nasirul Mulk and comprising Justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmed, Justice Jawwad S Khawaja, Justice Rahmat Hussain Jafferi and Justice Tariq Pervez, scolded Deputy Attorney-General (DAG) Tariq Agha for not implementing the court’s orders.

When Agha said that the summary had not yet been sent to the presidency for restoring the privileges of the retired Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Khawaja remarked that the court was being fed a lie.

“It seems the system is fast heading towards a massive collapse…The government is not implementing the Supreme Court’s ruling...A mockery is being made of the apex court’s every decision. Justice Raja Fayyaz observed that a month had passed but the court order has not yet been implemented.

Adjourning the case till the first week of July, Justice Nasir directed the DAG not to appear in this case next time and directed Attorney-General Maulvi Anwarul Haq to personally submit a status report on the next hearing regarding the case.

During the previous hearing, the same bench had directed the Auditor-General of Pakistan to release pension and other perks to the retired Chief Justice till May 13th. In his application, he pleaded that he was not being given pension and other incentives in accordance with normal procedure. He requested the apex court in 2002 to direct the authorities concerned to release his privileges and pension.

Justice (retd) Sajjad Ali Shah was the Chief Justice of Pakistan till 1998. He was removed from his post during Nawaz Sharif’s second tenure in the light of Malik Asad Ali Case in which his ruling was declared wrong.

Published in the Express Tribune, June 12^th, 2010.