CJP Umar Ata Bandial explains sentences including ‘good to see you’ & ‘short and sweet judgment’

ISLAMABAD, Sep 11 (SABAH): Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Umar Ata Bandial has explained sentences including “good to see you” and “short and sweet judgment”.

Speaking for the last time at a ceremony marking the commencement of the New Judicial Year on Monday, Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial said that the use of his phrases ‘good to see you’ and ‘short and sweet judgment’ were taken out of context. Chief justice said that he uses words “good to see you” as respect and “short and sweet” means the order will be straight and simple.

Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Qazi Faez Isa, Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Ayesha A. Malik, Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Shahid Waheed and Justice Musarrat Hilali attended the ceremony. However, Justice Yahya Khan Afridi could not attend the ceremony as he was abroad. The full court reference was attended also addressed by Attorney General for Pakistan Mansoor Usman Awan, Vice Chairman Pakistan Bar Council Haroonur Rashid and President Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan Abid Shahid Zuberi.

The full court reference was also attended by Additional Attorney General Chaudhry Amir Rehman, Sardar Latif Khan Khosa, Dr. Babr Awan, Shoaib Shaheen, Jehangir Khan Jadoon, Taufiq Asif, Barrister Gohar Ali Khan and a large number of senior lawyers.

Chief justice maintained that the court was tested several times in February 2023 with matters pertaining to the Constitution of Pakistan. He added that he did not want to repeat all that has happened but it is reflected in part in the decision for the audio leaks case.

Chief justice said that when there will be political stability in the country then there will be every kind of stability including legal and economic stability. Chief justice said that the country is passing through the economic crunch, adding that the government had declared last year as austerity year. Chief justice said that Supreme Court surrendered its 13.3 percent budget last year. Chief justice said that still the people are depositing money in the dam fund, adding that last month Rs 83 thousand was deposited by people in the dam fund. He said that the next chief justice of Pakistan will decide about Rs 18.6 billion funds of dam fund.

Chief justice said that we have to strengthen the Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) system and if we will be able to strengthen this system 50 percent burden on the judiciary will be decreased.  Chief justice also praised the women judges on the bench and women working at other judicial positions.

Commenting about the designated chief justice Qazi Faez Isa, Justice Bandial maintained that the latter was an admirable man. The media is the eyes and ears of society, said the CJP. Chief justice also paid rich tribute to the services of Public Relations Officer of Supreme Court Hina Firdous, who was on deputation in the apex court.  

Justice Bandial said that this might be his last address as the chief justice, and mentioned that the ongoing political situation has also affected judicial performance. Commenting on the performance of the apex court, CJP Bandial said that the SC disposed of 23,000 cases in the past year, breaking a previous record of disposing of 18,000 cases in one year.

He added that he had wished to reduce the number of pending cases by 50,000 but managed to address only 2,000 cases from the backlog. Justice Bandial took office as CJP in February 2022 and is due to retire on September 16, 2023. The Supreme Court has been marred with controversies this year against the backdrop of a political crisis which has garnered the attention of international media and much uncertainty surrounding the next general elections.