Climbing the ladder: SHC bids farewell to its longest-serving judge
Mushir Alam served the SHC for 14 years as a judge.
Justice Mushir Alam. PHOTO: FILE
KARACHI:
With emotional speeches and complaints, the Sindh High Court bade farewell to its longest-serving judge, chief justice Mushir Alam, on Monday.
Alam had been serving the high court as a judge for the past 14 years. His tenure as chief justice - which spans over two-and-a-half years - witnessed an estranged relationship with the bar as many felt the judge, on occasions, became too emotional.
Addressing the full court reference held in his honour, the outgoing chief justice Mushir Alam said the country witnessed a crisis after November 3, 2007, due to incompetent judges. Merit must be the only criterion to appoint judges in the future, he emphasised, adding that he did not even appoint a peon or a guard by extending anyone a favour.
Feeling sorry for taking oath under the Legal Framework Ordinance issued by the then army chief General Pervez Musharraf, Alam admitted he regrets the decision to this day. Accepting that there may have been shortcomings in the manner he performed his duties, Alam assured they were unintentional and that he worked with dedication.
Alam, who was among the 68 judges sacked by Musharraf, remarked that Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry’s refusal to obey a dictator’s unconstitutional demand emerged as a hope in the darkness. Democracy flourished when the sacked judges, including him and the designate chief justice Maqbool Baqar, were restored as a result of a historic lawyers’ movement, the civil society and the media. For Alam, this was a big change that only fortunate nations experience once in a century.
Down memory lane
When Alam assumed office, the high court had only 14 judges, including five confirmed ones. Despite the shortage of manpower, Alam strictly maintained a principle of hiring judges on merit and did not compromise on it. This made various lawyers unhappy, he recalled, adding that several lawyers later admitted that he was right.
“The judges are the messenger of life and death so vacant courts are not as big a threat as an incompetent judge,” he pointed out. Today, there are 31 judges appointed in the high court on merit and they are fully capable of doing this job, he said proudly.
Fixing problems
Alam felt there is a need to end prejudices against communities on the basis of their ethnicities or class. To fix the current judicial set up, Alam suggested adopting projects to end corruption, such as automated affidavits and identity documents.
A year after these projects were launched, Alam boasted that the number of fake cases reduced remarkably and the high court earned Rs1.8 million from fee incurred on issuance of automated affidavits. However, a ‘mafia’ of lawyers in the superior and lower judiciary did not want these projects to be launched, he admitted. Alam regretted the conduct of the general secretary of the bar association, who had threatened to take action against him if their demands to shift the lawyers’ parking from the high court building were not met.
Best wishes for successor
Congratulating Justice Baqar upon his elevation as the high court chief justice, Alam appreciated that he came to attend the full-court reference despite his ailment. Corruption has been eliminated in the high court to a large extent, said Alam, hoping that the coming chief justice and his team would also adopt the same principles.
Meanwhile, Baqar expressed best wishes for the outgoing chief justice. Another senior judge, Justice Faisal Arab, pointed out the various landmark judgments given by Alam, one of which was even referred to by a three-member bench of the UK’s high court recently.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 17th, 2013.
With emotional speeches and complaints, the Sindh High Court bade farewell to its longest-serving judge, chief justice Mushir Alam, on Monday.
Alam had been serving the high court as a judge for the past 14 years. His tenure as chief justice - which spans over two-and-a-half years - witnessed an estranged relationship with the bar as many felt the judge, on occasions, became too emotional.
Addressing the full court reference held in his honour, the outgoing chief justice Mushir Alam said the country witnessed a crisis after November 3, 2007, due to incompetent judges. Merit must be the only criterion to appoint judges in the future, he emphasised, adding that he did not even appoint a peon or a guard by extending anyone a favour.
Feeling sorry for taking oath under the Legal Framework Ordinance issued by the then army chief General Pervez Musharraf, Alam admitted he regrets the decision to this day. Accepting that there may have been shortcomings in the manner he performed his duties, Alam assured they were unintentional and that he worked with dedication.
Alam, who was among the 68 judges sacked by Musharraf, remarked that Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry’s refusal to obey a dictator’s unconstitutional demand emerged as a hope in the darkness. Democracy flourished when the sacked judges, including him and the designate chief justice Maqbool Baqar, were restored as a result of a historic lawyers’ movement, the civil society and the media. For Alam, this was a big change that only fortunate nations experience once in a century.
Down memory lane
When Alam assumed office, the high court had only 14 judges, including five confirmed ones. Despite the shortage of manpower, Alam strictly maintained a principle of hiring judges on merit and did not compromise on it. This made various lawyers unhappy, he recalled, adding that several lawyers later admitted that he was right.
“The judges are the messenger of life and death so vacant courts are not as big a threat as an incompetent judge,” he pointed out. Today, there are 31 judges appointed in the high court on merit and they are fully capable of doing this job, he said proudly.
Fixing problems
Alam felt there is a need to end prejudices against communities on the basis of their ethnicities or class. To fix the current judicial set up, Alam suggested adopting projects to end corruption, such as automated affidavits and identity documents.
A year after these projects were launched, Alam boasted that the number of fake cases reduced remarkably and the high court earned Rs1.8 million from fee incurred on issuance of automated affidavits. However, a ‘mafia’ of lawyers in the superior and lower judiciary did not want these projects to be launched, he admitted. Alam regretted the conduct of the general secretary of the bar association, who had threatened to take action against him if their demands to shift the lawyers’ parking from the high court building were not met.
Best wishes for successor
Congratulating Justice Baqar upon his elevation as the high court chief justice, Alam appreciated that he came to attend the full-court reference despite his ailment. Corruption has been eliminated in the high court to a large extent, said Alam, hoping that the coming chief justice and his team would also adopt the same principles.
Meanwhile, Baqar expressed best wishes for the outgoing chief justice. Another senior judge, Justice Faisal Arab, pointed out the various landmark judgments given by Alam, one of which was even referred to by a three-member bench of the UK’s high court recently.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 17th, 2013.