ISLAMABAD – Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar announced on Monday that judicial reforms would be introduced from next week but hastened to warn that ‘nobody should say that [the judiciary] was interfering or encroaching.’
The Chief Justice made the remarks during the hearing of a suo moto case related to the cutting of trees on Margalla Hills, Islamabad.
During today’s hearing, State Minister for Capital Administration Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry appeared before the apex Court after being summoned, over the failure of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to develop rules and regulations regarding deforestation.
The CJP, during the course of the hearing, inquired how much time the CDA would require setting the house in order.
To this, Chaudhry requested the court to grant him three months.
The top judge observed that rules and regulations had not even been devised for several institutions. He then allowed CDA two months and instructed the officials to toil hard for formulating rules.
“Who is responsible for making laws around the world?” the CJP wondered to which Chaudhry responded that law-making was the parliament’s job.
The judge then asked what reforms did the parliament introduce adding that we would bring reform in the judicial system which would begin from next week.
“But this is not our job. Nobody should say then that we are interfering or encroaching,” CJP Nisar continued.
During the previous hearing of the case, CJP had remarked that the court was not fond of judicial activism in any way.
Suo Moto Regarding Unsafe Water
Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Mian Saqib Nisar on Monday took notice of the absence of pure drinking water in the jails across the country.
The registrar office of the apex court stated that the notice had been taken on the complaint of a citizen and reports have been sought in this regard from the jail inspectors general of all four provinces.
Let it be known that in December, the CJP made a rare visit to Mayo hospital Lahore and inquired about the quality of services provided to the patients, especially the quality of water being provided.
The visit was welcomed by Chief Minister Punjab Shehbaz Sharif, much to the surprise of political commentators who thought that the visit was unwarranted and ‘beyond the professional domain of the top judge’.
