Judiciary mandated to ensure fundamental rights of people: CJP

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar has said that judiciary being one of the important state pillars, is mandated to ensure fundamental rights of the people.

There should be competent judges with authorities to decide cases independently as per their oath to enforce these fundamental rights, he added.

The CJP was taking to the participants of 25th anniversary of the adaptation of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, International Conference and VIII St. Petersburg International Legal Forum (STILF) from May 15 to 19 at St Petersburg, Russia, according to a press release issued by SC here Wednesday.

Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar said the earth was unique in universe due to availability of life. There were foundational rights conferred by Allah Almighty on human beings and those rights developed a life.

He said the reasons for developed life were education, good leadership, strong adjudication and rule of law.

The CJP said all the courts, either civil, high or Supreme Court, should have one trait to dispense justice.

Talking in context of Pakistan, he said there were two basic provisions of law in the country, which catered for the enforcement of the fundamental rights.

Article 199 of the Constitution, he said, conferred upon high courts in four provinces with the powers of writ jurisdiction. The high courts had the special jurisdiction to enforce the fundamental rights.

According to another provision in Constitution, if there was breach of fundamental and that matter pertained to direct fundamental rights breach or public importance leaving upon any application having been made by anybody in the public interest litigation, any representative without their locus standi could approach the Supreme Court of Pakistan for the enforcement of that fundamental rights for the others and this exercise was called as suo motu jurisdiction, he added.

He said there were so many cases in which the Supreme Court had recently taken suo motu jurisdiction and effective orders had been passed for the people of the Pakistan, especially the downtrodden segment of the society, who did not have the means to approach of court of law.

The Supreme Court and other superior courts were guardians of the fundamental rights of the people of Pakistan and they were duty bound to enforce those rights, he added.