ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar on Wednesday said the Supreme Court and other superior courts are guardians of the fundamental rights of the people of Pakistan and are duty bound to enforce those rights.
He addressed the participants of the 25th anniversary of the adaptation of the constitution of the Russian Federation, International Conference and VIII St Petersburg International Legal Forum (STILF), which started on May 15 and will continue till May 19 at St Petersburg.
According to a press statement issued by the Supreme Court, the CJP said there are fundamental rights conferred by Allah Almighty on human beings and these rights developed a life.He said the reasons for a developed life are education, good leadership, strong adjudication and rule of law as all these take the nations and states ahead.He said judiciary being one of the important pillars of the state is mandated to ensure fundamental rights,otherwise these rights seem to be obscure and false.
The CJP said all the courts, either civil, high or the Supreme Court,should have one trait: dispensation of justice. He emphasized that there should be competent and capable judges in the courts with the authority to decide cases independently as per oath of a judge and to enforce fundamental rights of people.
Talking in context of Pakistan, the CJP said that in Pakistan there are two basic provisions of law which cater for the enforcement of the fundamental rights.He said Article 199 of the constitution confers upon high courts in four provinces with the powers of writ jurisdiction. He said the high courts have the special jurisdiction to enforce the fundamental rights and this jurisdiction of the high court cannot be convicted even by making the constitutional amendment.
He said another provision in the constitution of Pakistan says that if there is a breach of fundamental rights and that matter pertains to direct fundamental rights or public importance leaving upon any application having been made by anybody in the public interest litigation, any representative without their locus standi can approach the Supreme Court for the enforcement of those fundamental rights for the others and this exercise is called as suo motu jurisdiction.
He said there are so many cases in which Supreme Court has recently exercised its suo motu jurisdiction and effective orders have been passed for the people of Pakistan, especially the downtrodden segments of the society that do not have the means to approach the court of law.
Published in Daily Times, May 17th 2018.