Bold CJ Iftikhar Chaudhry all set to bid adieu on Dec 11

ISLAMABAD: After delivering a shining performance as the courageous top judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry is all set to proceed on retirement with effect from December 11, 2013.

Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani who is the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court after Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, will assume the charge as the chief justice of Pakistan on December 12.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, after his reinstatement in 2009, took scores of suo moto notices on charges of corruption and human rights violations and issued unprecedented number of judgments in such cases.

The role of the top court witnessed a visible change after the independence of judiciary. The CJ did his best to keep a strict check on corruption in government institutions. Billions of rupees returned to the national kitty as a result of just one suo moto action on the controversial Rental Power Project.

The CJ also took suo moto notices of financial irregularities in NICL and EOBI besides mismanagement and corruption in connection with arrangements for Hajj.

Thanks to one of such bold initiatives as a result of which the Capital Development Authority (CDA) recovered thousands of canals of land worth billions of rupees from the illegal occupation of mafias.

The CJ’s notice also brought the powerful murderers of Shahzeb before the court and who can forget the suo moto taken on Sarfaraz Shah’s killing by a Rangers’ personnel in broad day light in Karachi.

When government failed to maintain order in Balochistan and Karachi, it was once again the Chief Justice Chaudhry who took initiatives on the issues of missing persons in Balochistan and target killings in Karachi, and announced crucial judgments.

Waheeda Shah, a leader of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), also had to face disqualification as a result of one such suo moto action after she slapped a presiding officer during elections.

Suo moto cases ranging from the recovery of liquor from TV actress Atiqa Odho at an airport to graft allegations against his own son Arsalan Iftikhar came before the CJ. Apart from these, many other influential and important personalities had to taste the flavour of independent judiciary, for the first time in Pakistan’s history.

According to constitutional and legal experts, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry’s working day and night for the protection of people’s rights and supremacy of the constitution and law will serve as a guiding light for the future chief justices of Pakistan.

A full court reference will be held on December 11 in the honour of Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who will retire on that day after serving the apex court for more than a decade. All the judges of apex court will attend the reference to be held in the Court Room No 1.

The Attorney General of Pakistan, Munir A Malik, Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) Vice Chairman Syed Qalb-e-Hassan and Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Kamran Murtaza, will deliver speeches on the occasion. The outgoing chief justice, in his speech, will highlight the performance of the judiciary for dispensation of justice, especially the role of the apex court.

Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani will remain the chief justice of Pakistan for seven months and will retire on July 6, 2014, after attaining the age of superannuation.

After Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, Justice Nasirul Mulk, Justice Jawwad S Khawaja, Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, Justice Saqib Nisar, Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa and Justice Gulzar Ahmed would become the chief justices of Pakistan.