Islamabad, February 01, 2022 (PPI-OT):Mr. Justice Umar Ata Bandial, the Hon’ble Chief Justice Designate; My Hon’ble Brother Judges of the Supreme Court; Mr. Khalid Jawed Khan, Attorney General for Pakistan; Mr. Hafeez-ur-Rehman Chaudhry, Vice Chairman, Pakistan Bar Council; Mr. Muhammad Ahsan Bhoon, President, Supreme Court Bar Association; Members of the Bar; Ladies and Gentlemen! Assalam o Alaikum! Today is the day on which I lay down my robes. The robe of the judge I have been wearing since August 2002. I look back at my judicial career, first as a lawyer.

As a lawyer, I did my work with full amount of honour and dignity and did my best in the profession. Full credit goes to my father, Mr. Noor Mohammed Advocate who during my early days in the legal profession guided and taught me fine points of the profession which built in me trust and confidence. The profession of law was not just bread and butter for me, rather, it became part of my person. This very person in me will not be surged off, although the time has come for me to lay down my robes. I was busy in my legal profession, but the fate has something more challenging and arduous for me to do.

This was when I was elevated as a judge of the High Court of Sindh. As a judge of the High Court, I met these challenges and did my work with full amount of independence and to the best of my ability. I was appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in November 2011. I did my duty and performed my functions as a Judge of the Supreme Court fearlessly and to the best of my ability. In December 2019, I was appointed as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

This opened a new chapter in my life, where not only I was required to work and conduct my Court daily and decide cases, but at the same time, the administration of the Court and running of its day-to-day affairs and taking of decisions also came to rest on my shoulders. I did my level best in discharging of my these functions. No sooner I took the office of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the pandemic of COVID-19 started showing its full face where scores of people got affected by this pandemic.

At all levels shut-downs were being made. I was really concerned about the health and safety of my own judges of the Supreme Court and also officers and staff of the Supreme Court. In consultation with colleagues, devised SOPs for litigants, lawyers, officers, and staff of the Court and at the same time rested the judges. The Court, however, continued to function in that for not a single day it was closed. For the benefit of lawyers and litigants, special dispensation was introduced where limitation period for filing of proceedings before this court was extended.

The hearing of cases was already being conducted through video-link from all Branch Registries of the Court, i.e., from Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta. On account of the Pandemic of COVID-19, this facility of hearing via video-link from Branch Registries was availed more and more to ensure that the litigants and lawyers are saved from travelling from their stations all the way to Islamabad. There has always been difference in institution and disposal of cases and invariably the institution has always been on the higher side.

The functional disability created by Pandemic of COVID-19 in all spheres of life and larger Benches having longish hearing of cases gave me a fear that disposal of cases may be too low but on getting the actual figures, I had a sigh of relief as I noted that against institution of 38,680 cases during the tenure of my office as Chief Justice of Pakistan, the Court has decided 27,426 cases. I am also glad to note that as a Chief Justice of Pakistan, I have heard and decided 4,392 cases. The Judges of this Court, despite all odds and risk to their health, ensured that dispensation of justice is continued and disputes of the people are resolved.

This was not an easy thing to do, looking at the circumstances prevailing, where shut-downs were constantly being imposed. The Court has navigated from difficult times, but the current scenario shows that it is still not over. My anxious prayer is that all people living in Pakistan are safe from the menace of this Pandemic and those who are infected by this dreadful disease make early recovery. Aameen. I am really indebted and grateful to my brother judges for their valuable support, sharing of experience and enlightenment in dealing with the affairs and administration of the Court. Ladies and Gentlemen! The principle of separation of powers is the bedrock of our Constitutional structure.

It provides the system of checks and balances to ensure that each Organ of State stays within the limits of its power or jurisdiction. There must be harmony between the three State Organs, and they are expected to work for achieving the goals set out in the Constitution. The most important attributes of judiciary and judges are independence, fearlessness and integrity. Similar is the onerous and arduous task to be followed by the members of the Bar.

The consultation with the Bar has been a continuous process and in this, issues of lawyers were addressed so also the matters relating to the Court working were amicably resolved. I deeply appreciate all lawyers who have worked so hard in assisting the Court and ensuring that dispensation of justice from the Court continues unabated. I am really elated and express my gratitude to the good things said about me in the speech of the Mr. Khalid Jawed Khan, Attorney General for Pakistan, in the speech of Mr. Hafeez-ur-Rehman, Vice Chairman Pakistan Bar Council, in the speech of Mr. Mohammad Ahsan Bhoon, the President, Supreme Court Bar Association and on top of that the speech of my learned brother Umar Ata Bandial, the Hon’ble Chief Justice Designate.

Despite difficult circumstances created by the Pandemic of COVID-19 where large meetings were practically made impossible, during my tenure as the Chief Justice of Pakistan, 3 meetings of the National Judicial Policy Making Committee (‘NJPMC’) were held in which practically all members attended, and major decisions were taken. Measures were adopted to deal with the crisis of Pandemic of COVID-19 and a Crisis Management Committee was constituted for monitoring implementation of the measures.

Thorough deliberation on this aspect was made whereby working of the courts throughout the country was ensured but at the same time risk of getting infected is reduced. SOPs were devised for the Supreme Court of Pakistan which was also made applicable to other Courts. Condition of prison and Jail inmates and construction of Model Jail Islamabad was also deliberated, and decisions were taken of improving the condition of Prisons as well as of Jail inmates. I personally visited the under-construction Model Jail Islamabad and gave suggestions to the officials on making the jail premises more convenient for the inmates and making it more secure and workable.

The issues relating to Gender Based Violence, Juvenile Justice and Child Courts were also addressed and performance of the Model Courts established by my predecessor was discussed and decisions on them were taken. Issues relating to pendency and vacancy in superior Courts and District Judiciary were extensively deliberated and decisions were made. The issues relating to disposal of cases in Administrative Tribunals/Special Courts both Federal and Provincial were discussed, and measures were adopted to ensure their early disposal.

On IT side, the National Judicial Automation Unit was established to serve as a centralized data bank for maintaining data of entire judiciary of Pakistan. Four-phase Internal Network Security Plan was initiated and phase-I of the said plan has been completed. Under National Judicial Automation Committee, the National Online Dashboard (NOD) and the E-Case Information Management System (e-CIMS) were launched which not only ensured cost effective and time saving access to the courts but will also provide easy access and ease of filing cases to the litigants and parties to the cases.

Uniform policy for blocking of CNICs was shared with NADRA. Unified Service Rules for IT Staff and Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan were also prepared. Renovation of Judges tea-room in the Supreme Court Building, Islamabad was undertaken and completed. Two anti-rooms in the Supreme Court Building Islamabad were also refurbished and renovated. Tree plantation was undertaken in the Judges Colony at Islamabad so also in the Supreme Court Building Islamabad. Bar Room in the Supreme Court Branch Registry, Karachi was in dilapidated condition. Same was got rehabilitated. New lift was installed in the Karachi Registry Building for the convenience of the lawyers.

Construction of new building of Branch Registry at Karachi has also started and is at advanced stage. New building of Branch Registry Quetta was also made functional. There was acute shortage of residential accommodation for the Officers and Staff of the Supreme Court at Islamabad. I have taken an initiative and was successful in obtaining plot of land of 28 acres at Kuri Road, Islamabad for the setting up of Supreme Court Employees’ Colony. Another plot of land measuring 5.4 acres, just adjacent to the Supreme Court Building Islamabad, has been obtained for construction of additional blocks of Supreme Court and offices attached with it, including the office of Attorney General, Advocates General, Prosecutor General, Pakistan Bar Council and Supreme Court Bar Association.

The process of appointments in District Judiciary was expedited and I am informed that substantial appointments have already been made. Appointments were made on vacant positions in the High Courts and 3 Judges were also appointed in this Court. History was made by appointment of first female Justice in the Supreme Court by appointment of Hon’ble Justice Ayesha A. Malik. Through the auspices of NJPMC, recommendations have been forwarded for increasing the strength of the Peshawar High Court by 10 Judges to meet the load of work on account of merger of 7 new Districts of erstwhile FATA/PATA in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The District Judiciary has been made functional in these newly merged Districts of KPK. The District Legal Empowerment Committees (‘DLEC’) for providing free legal aid were established in all 7 newly merged districts of KPK, i.e., Kurram, Mohmand, North Waziristan, South Waziristan, Orakzai, Bajaur and Khyber Agencies who have also been disbursed sufficient funds. Two meetings of Police Reform Committee were held during my tenure as Chief Justice of Pakistan. In these meetings, former IGs and the incumbent IGs of all Provinces, ICT, Gilgit Baltistan and AJ and K participated and issues relating to improvement and capacity building of Police Officials were discussed and National Police Bureau was given task to undertake this very important function.

The performance of Compliant Redressal Cell was examined, and emphasis was made that the police officials be sensitized to redress the grievance of the general public. The ‘Handbook of Criminal Investigation in Pakistan’ prepared by the National Police Bureau was launched and briefing was given for continuous updating of this Book. Performance of District Assessment Committees was also evaluated, and measures were adopted for making such Committees more efficient by induction of IT Technology. All related matters were considered and deliberated and decisions were made for the overall improvement in functioning of the Police Department.

This speech will be incomplete if I do not acknowledge the tireless and sincere efforts made by my staff in fulfillment of my duties. They have truly served beyond call of duty and ensured smooth functioning of all my work. Mr. Masood Hashmi and Mr. Ghulam Rabbani have worked with me from my very induction in the Supreme Court. Ms. Faryal Nazir, Ms. Minahil Khan, Ms. Zarmala Tashfeen, Mr. Hamza Anwar, Ms. Aleena Khan and lastly, Ms. Nawal Ramay have worked as Law Clerks with me. Besides, Syed Sibt-e-Hassan Shamsi, Deputy Registrar Research, Mr. Ahmed Saeed, Court Associate, Mr. Mahtab Hussain, Private Secretary and Mr. Sardar Ali, Qasid have also worked with me. At House, Mohammad Iqbal and Farhat Rafique, Drivers, Mohammad Kashif and Talat Mehmood, Naib Qasids, and Mohammad Rewayat and Mohammad Nasir, Gunmen have worked with me.

They all have worked with zeal and sincerity, and effectively assisted me in discharge of my functions. Before ending, I would like to thank my wife Fouzia, for being always on my side and bearing me at all times and making no complaints whatsoever. I also thank my son Saad, his wife Isra, my daughter Somia, her husband Obaid, my daughter Sanita, her husband Salman, my youngest son Saib, and his wife Batool. My grandchildren Aaira, Ashar and Iman are the jewels of my life and gift of Allah, with whom I am looking forward to spend much of my time after retirement. Thank You again Allah Hafiz Pakistan Paindabad!

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