LAHORE: A full court reference was held on Monday at the Lahore High Court in the honour of outgoing LHC Chief Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan.
The reference was attended by LHC judges, senior lawyers, bar representatives, federal and provincial law officers. However, Chief Justice-designate Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti could not attend the reference for health reasons.
The outgoing CJ said that nobody was above the law and everyone was answerable to it. He said that provision of justice was a duty of judges and it was the need of the hour to enhance their capacity. “We continued online training of judges at the Punjab Judicial Academy despite the coronavirus pandemic, ” he added.
He said that the district judiciary was the backbone of the judicial system and the district judiciary judges should make decisions in accordance with the law. Due to better decisions of the district judiciary, burden on the higher judiciary was reduced, he added.
He said that the country was facing coronavirus pandemic, when he took office as the chief justice. “We continued delivering justice despite coronavirus pandemic, and more than 145, 000 cases were decided by the LHC during my tenure, ” he said, adding that the district judiciary decided more than 2.786 million cases during the same period.
The chief justice said that the Punjab Judicial Academy and the district judiciary were modernised, besides numerous administrative and judicial measures to facilitate lawyers.
Senior LHC Judge-designate, Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmad Khan, read out the reference, written by Chief Justice-designate Muhammad Ameer Bhatti, and said the outgoing chief justice took ideal steps for provision of justice during his tenure.
The bar leaders and others paid tribute to the outgoing chief justice for his services to the institution at the reference. High Court Bar Association Multan President Syed Riaz-ul-Hassan Gilani, High Court Bar Association Rawalpindi President Sardar Abdul Raziq, Lahore High Court Bar Association President Maqsood Butter, High Court Bar Association Bahawalpur president, Vice Chairman Punjab Bar Council Amjad Iqbal Khan, Advocate General Punjab Ahmad Owais, Prosecutor General Punjab Rana Arif Kamal, Pakistan Bar Council Member Pir Masood Chishti and Additional Attorney General Malik Naveed Sohail read out the references in honour of LHC Chief Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan.
Justice Khan was elevated to the LHC on Feb 19, 2010 and he took oath as the 50th chief justice on March 20, 2020. He retired on Monday after reaching superannuation on July 5.
Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti will take oath as the 51st chief justice on Tuesday in a ceremony, to be held at the Governor’s House.