ISLAMABAD: Outgoing Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani has a word of caution for democracy: he says it cannot endure if constitutional pledges and values fail to bring about a positive change in the lives of the people.
“Only (the) enforcement of laws and verdicts can promote values of trust and tolerance,” he said at full- court reference held in his honour at the Supreme Court on Friday.
The outgoing chief justice said that in a society plagued by an education deficit, steeped in a myopic view of faith, stricken by ethnic and sectarian divides and agonised by terror; the apex court could not only have to enforce constitutional values, but also act as a pedagogical institution.
Judges must adjudicate according to law, not personal sense of justice, says Justice Mulk
It is not sufficient for the Supreme Court of a complex country such as Pakistan to merely implement the law; rather it is important for it to display initiative and courage in the face of challenges to constitutional values from fluctuating majorities or passions of the day.
Chief Justice Jillani said the challenges faced by the judicature during the last few years recharged the judiciary and it emerged as an active pillar of the state.
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Chief Justice designate Nasirul Mulk said the courts always walked a tightrope; they not only had the constitutional responsibility of protecting and promoting the rights of the people but also have the duty of respecting the constitutionally-created trichotomy of power.
Pakistan’s governance structure can only be strengthened when all state institutions work in accordance with the law and cautiously exercise their powers for the betterment of the people.
Institutions, he said, needed to work harmoniously with one another and it was their constitutional duty to refrain from undue interference in the workings of other pillars of the state. In cases where institutions disregard this division, the rights of the people will be violated and disregarded.
The court’s job in this situation, he said, was to create an equilibrium in society; laying down rules by interpreting laws, which could serve as unambiguous precedents for the future determination of problems. “We need to remind ourselves that judges have to administer justice in accordance with the law and not according to their personal sense of justice, as predictability and certainty are defining features of a sound judicial system,” Justice Mulk observed.
“Personal perceptions of justice, when not reined in, disturb the trust that people have in the integrity and predictability of law,” he stressed, adding that the Constitution and the law alone should guide judges.
The constitution provided for a separation of powers, where each pillar of state had been given particular functions and responsibilities, Justice Mulk said, adding that this separation created checks and balances wherein the courts were expected to undertake judicial review and step in cases where the executive or the legislature exceeded its constitutional jurisdiction.
Attorney General Salman Aslam Butt, Pakistan Bar Council Vice Chairman Mohammad Ramzan Chaudhry and Supreme Court Bar Association President Kamran Murtaza also eulogised the services the outgoing chief justice.
Published in Dawn, July 5th, 2014