Chief Justice stresses importance of judicial education, research

Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Friday observed that judicial education and research was of great importance in administration of justice but it had never been accorded due priority as a specialised field by the policy makers. This he said while addressing the foundation stone laying ceremony of Federal Judicial Academy (FJA), Phase-II here. The building will cost Rs 7.5 million and would be completed in two years time.
The Chief Justice said that the quality of administration of justice and the structure of judicial system stood firmly on the quality of training and professionalism of the practitioners. He hoped that the judicial academy would work to make itself a true Centre of Excellence.
The professional judicial training academies had to work more vibrantly to impart best judicial practices and legal education to the judges, court personnel, law officers and lawyers, he said. Highlighting the importance of FJA, the CJP said that the academy being the national institution had to shoulder this responsibility not only in terms of disseminating judicial education but also developing national cohesion.
Quoting Winston Churchill, the Chief Justice said "we shape our building; thereafter they shape us". The Chief Justice appreciated the role of FJA saying that the academy had played a pivotal role in imparting judicial education. He observed that judicial education regime was by now deep-rooted in Pakistan and the importance of it was fully understood.
The Chief Justice said that the FJA had developed a culture of judicial education which was more formalised, collegial, output oriented, need based and object specific. He said that the wheel of development and perfection never stops and "it is also the case of FJA".
Quoting great Muslim political thinker, Ibn Khaldon, the Chief Justice said, "a man's education is greatly improved by travelling in quest of knowledge and meeting the authoritative teachers of his time". The Chief Justice said that as knowledge advanced and fresh avenues of thought were opened, other views and probably sounder views than those set forth in these lectures were possible. "Our duty is to carefully watch the progress of human thought and to maintain an independent critical attitude towards it," he said.