Judicial policy: Disposal is Wasa’s work, not the courts’: LHC chief justice
Justice Saeed gives his first speech to Lahore Bar Association.
LAHORE:
Chief Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed of the Lahore High Court on Wednesday implied differences with the Supreme Court’s policy for the quick disposal of cases, saying the job of disposal was the Water and Sanitations Agency’s (Wasa), not the courts’.
Addressing the Lahore Bar Association (LBA), the newly sworn in chief justice said that all cases must be decided on merit and in light of the law and the Constitution. This was Justice Saeed’s first address as chief justice to the LBA, which is not a fan of the Supreme Court disposal policy either.
He said that lawyers learnt about the law and the Constitution not at college, but in courts from judges and their opposing counsel. He said the trial courts were a furnace where efficient lawyers were made.
He said a few years ago, some lawyers from America asked him where he had got his law education from. “I brought them to Aiwan-i-Adl and told them that this was where I got my education,” he said.
Responding to a comment from LBA General Secretary Farhad Ali Shah, who said many young lawyers become disheartened and forget their arguments when they come up against a senior lawyer, Justice Saeed said that junior lawyers should prepare better by reading more case law in the library. He cited a quote from Hazrat Ali that in an argument, one should listen to what is being said rather than look at the person saying it.
He said that the relationship between bar and bench should be strengthened. He said he would need the cooperation of the lawyers to resolve the bar’s problems.
LBA President Shehzad Hassan Shaikh said that judges who did not provide speedy justice to the people should be punished. He said the LBA had many problems which needed to be resolved.
Justice Manzoor Malik, District and Sessions Judge Mujahid Mustaqeem Ahmed, LHC Registrar Sohail Nasir and Senior Civil Judge Atta Rabani also attended the event.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 24th, 2011.
Chief Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed of the Lahore High Court on Wednesday implied differences with the Supreme Court’s policy for the quick disposal of cases, saying the job of disposal was the Water and Sanitations Agency’s (Wasa), not the courts’.
Addressing the Lahore Bar Association (LBA), the newly sworn in chief justice said that all cases must be decided on merit and in light of the law and the Constitution. This was Justice Saeed’s first address as chief justice to the LBA, which is not a fan of the Supreme Court disposal policy either.
He said that lawyers learnt about the law and the Constitution not at college, but in courts from judges and their opposing counsel. He said the trial courts were a furnace where efficient lawyers were made.
He said a few years ago, some lawyers from America asked him where he had got his law education from. “I brought them to Aiwan-i-Adl and told them that this was where I got my education,” he said.
Responding to a comment from LBA General Secretary Farhad Ali Shah, who said many young lawyers become disheartened and forget their arguments when they come up against a senior lawyer, Justice Saeed said that junior lawyers should prepare better by reading more case law in the library. He cited a quote from Hazrat Ali that in an argument, one should listen to what is being said rather than look at the person saying it.
He said that the relationship between bar and bench should be strengthened. He said he would need the cooperation of the lawyers to resolve the bar’s problems.
LBA President Shehzad Hassan Shaikh said that judges who did not provide speedy justice to the people should be punished. He said the LBA had many problems which needed to be resolved.
Justice Manzoor Malik, District and Sessions Judge Mujahid Mustaqeem Ahmed, LHC Registrar Sohail Nasir and Senior Civil Judge Atta Rabani also attended the event.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 24th, 2011.