Mr Justice Qazi Faez Issa has a problem with the apex court’s Registrar. Given the latter post’s relationship to any chief justice, we can’t be faulted for making larger inferences. In this particular round of objections by him, the Justice seems irked by some appointments to the Sindh and Lahore High Courts, that too in his absence. “It seems that more care in the appointment of a cook is exercised than in the appointment of judges,” the justice said in a WhatsApp message to Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, which was also addressed to the members of the council.
Even though strong words being used by a sitting judge of the apex judiciary is always going to be noteworthy, this particular judge’s comments are more noteworthy still on account of his being the next man to helm the Supreme Court. Given the rather eventful judicial career that Justice Isa has had, it goes without saying that there are a lot of eyes on him, especially in the current charged political climate. One expects for him to be fearless when it comes to the rule of law and to hold all powerful institutions’ feet to the fire if those feet become too big for their boots.
However, the honourable justice would also do well to remember that the judiciary is also part of the establishment. Not the e-word as it has come to mean in the case of our praetorian state, but in the more general sense. The judiciary, from the magistracy and sessions, all the way to the top, has a whole lot of sins to atone for.
There is the issue of needless judicial activism and stepping on to the turf of the executive. There is the stepping on the turf of the legislature whenever a bill has anything to do with the judiciary. There is the self-regulatory, self-perpetuatory spirit of the judiciary. And, most of all, there is the huge backlog of cases, some of whose final hearings are attended by the grandchildren of the litigants.
