Rule of law: PHC CJ readies successor to take up the mantle

Says bench and bar are two wheels of the judiciary and without cooperation, there can be no justice.

PESHAWAR:

Dost Muhammad Khan believes that no one, and he means no one, can take a step towards running the country as a dictator. However, if that does happen, he says the executive, parliament, judiciary or anyone who supports the dictator will be tried under high treason under Article 6 of the Constitution.

While speaking at an event organised for his farewell and the welcome of Chief Justice-designate Mian Fashiul Mulk by the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council, Dost Muhammad said the country’s 1973 Constitution gave legal protection to the judiciary. He added that in places where the institutions were strong, it did not matter who came or went.



“It is because of the trust the people have in the judiciary and an increase in population that the cases in court have increased to 200% in the last few years,” he said. “The chief justice has a great responsibility on his shoulders.” He added the bench and bar were two wheels of the judiciary and without cooperation of the bench, there can be no access to justice.

He insisted that it was also important for the provincial and federal governments to provide legal rights to the lawyers’ community.

While speaking at the event, Justice Mulk said there was no difference between the bench and the bar as all decisions will be made as a team. He added that there will be rule of law and transparency in all decisions made during his tenure.

The chief justice-designate invited lawyers to meet him after he took oath so they could discuss different issues.

The chairperson of the bar council’s executive committee, Arshad Awan, said that one of their representatives should be present in the selection committee for civil and additional sessions judges to ensure that all future appointments were made with consultations. He added the court needed to decrease the number of cases in the cause list of the high court.

Getting to know the men

Born on March 23, 1953, Justice Dost Muhammad hails from Bannu district. He received his early education there and moved to Karachi for his LLB at Government Sindh Muslim College in 1975. He started his career as a lawyer in 1976 and has served at the lower, high and Supreme Court of Pakistan. He was elevated to the bench as an additional judge on September 10, 2002 and as a permanent judge of PHC after just a year. In 2007, he refused to take oath under the Provincial Constitutional Order. Four years later, on November 17, 2011, he took oath as chief justice of PHC, a position he has served for more than two years.

During his tenure as chief justice, Dost Muhammad delivered some major judgments – terming drone strikes as war crime, ordering the government to raise the issue at the UN, disqualifying former president Pervez Musharraf, ordering the government to compensate for the Airblue incident and many more.

The judge was also known for the three major initiatives he took for quick justice – mobile courts, the mediation centre at K-P Judicial Academy and E-citizens Grievances Redressal System at the Human Rights Directorate.

Chief Justice-designate Mian Fashiul Mulk was born on April 8, 1952 in Mian Kakakhel, Charsadda. He completed his BSc and LLB at the University of Peshawar. He started practicing in lower courts in 1989 and then the Supreme Court in 1996. He was elevated to the bench as additional judge on September 7, 2009 and was confirmed as a permanent judge of PHC two years later.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 23^rd, 2014.