Addressing a full-court farewell reference at the Supreme Court on Friday, Justice Khosa rejected the allegation that he had influenced the special court’s proceedings and verdict.
“A malicious campaign has been started against the judiciary and myself. The allegations are baseless and incorrect. We know the limits of our powers and we know that the truth shall always prevail,” said the outgoing CJP who retires at midnight today.
Justice Khosa’s remarks were partly in reference to the additional attorney general’s claim that the CJP, in an informal chat with journalists, had voiced support for the special court’s order against Musharraf.
Khosa will be succeeded by Justice Gulzar Ahmed, who is scheduled to be sworn in on Saturday as the 27th chief justice of Pakistan.
The full-court reference was attended by all apex court judges, vice-chairperson of the Pakistan Bar Council, president of the Supreme Court Bar, Attorney General of Pakistan Anwar Mansoor Khan and others.
Known as a literary genius, Khosa remained Pakistan’s chief justice for a little over 11 months after taking over from Justice (retd) Mian Saqib Nisar.
Born in Dera Ghazi Khan on December 21, 1954, Justice Khosa obtained his law degree from the United Kingdom in 1976 and was considered one of the country’s top jurists on criminal law.
CJP Khosa full speech
In his final address, Justice Khosa said he always did what he “thought was right and was worth doing”.
“It did not matter to me as to what the reaction or consequences would or could be,” he said.
Justice Khosa said the footprints of his “judicial career spanning over a period of about 22 years may be found in almost every aspect of criminal and constitutional law”
“A student of law may find that throughout these years I have tried to consolidate legal knowledge on different aspects and have also made attempts to resolve conflicting opinions on diverse legal issues.”
“Initially that period appeared to be too short to make any meaningful contribution but in hindsight, it appears to be long enough for taking some critical steps and for initiating reforms in the justice sector,” he reflected.
“The image of this Court as a dignified judicial forum sitting at the apex of judicial hierarchy was maintained, the principle of separation of powers was adhered to, judicial restraint was exercised and dignity and respect ensured for all appearing before the Court as lawyers, litigants or officials.”
“An all-out effort was made to put our own house in order with an approach focusing mainly on improving the justice delivery system,” he said. “The principle of falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus was reintroduced in our legal system because in the absence of truthful testimonies justice may only be illusory.”
“The rampant practice of seeking and granting adjournments was effectively discouraged so as to minimise delays in the disposition of cases.”
With Justice Khosa in office, the top court adapted to video-linkage to facilitate cases at the provincial SC registries – saving time and cutting down travel expenses. A state-of-the-art research centre was established at the Supreme Court, the website was upgraded, a mobile application was launched and an e-kiosk was installed near the bar room in Islamabad to assist lawyers and litigants.
“The Supreme Court Estacode has been compiled and launched consolidating in one book all the constitutional and legal provisions relevant to this Court and all the notifications, circulars, orders, rules and instructions governing the practices and procedures of the Court.”
Perhaps the highlight of Justice Khosa’s tenure was clearing out of 25-years’ backlog of criminal appeals pending before the apex court.
“During the last 235 working days as many as 15,555 cases have been decided by this Court despite many Larger Benches of the Court having remained busy with some important cases consuming a lot of time.”
“A working paper containing some proposed amendments to the Supreme Court Rules, 1980 so as to regulate suo motu exercise of this Court’s jurisdiction under Article 184(3) of the Constitution and to provide for an Intra-Court Appeal in that respect has been presented before the Full Court and the same is under active consideration.”
Special benches created to expedite tax, revenue and banking cases at the high courts. While model courts decided 1, 16,407 cases in 212 working days. “In dozens of districts in the country zero pendency of many categories of cases has been achieved – including cases of murder and narcotics.
“Special Courts for trying cases of gender based violence have been established in every nook and corner of the country after imparting training to about 100 serving judicial officers with the assistance of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).”
The Federal Judicial Academy was turned into Centre of Excellence “imparting training to judicial officers, court staff, prosecutors, investigators, and young lawyers”.
The Law & Justice Commission of Pakistan was rejuvenated, it is working on initiatives such as the Police Reforms Committee chaired by the Chief Justice of Pakistan and comprising of all the Inspectors-General of Police in the country and some reputed retired police officers.
Justice Khosa’s term also saw the establishment of the office of Superintendent of Police (Complaints) in every district of the country on the basis of a decision of the Police Reforms Committee.
“It has provided a system of internal accountability within the police department and aggrieved persons now have a free forum of redressal of their grievances against the working of the police and they now don’t have to approach a court of law for that purpose,” he said. “This one step has resulted in a reduction of about 40 per cent in filing of petitions in this regard before the district judiciary and a reduction of about 15 per cent in the filing of writ petitions in this respect before the High Courts throughout Pakistan.”
The top judge also oversaw the creation of District Assessment Committees “for the purposes of analysing the reasons of acquittal in criminal cases and imparting instructions in that regard to the investigating officers is already showing results and a noticeable increase in the rate of conviction in criminal cases is being reported.”
He added that his approach can be summed up beautifully by the poet Fehmida Riaz in her poem ‘Faiz Kehte’.
Justice Gulzar Ahmed’s speech
The incoming chief justice, Justice Ahmed said his predecessor would remain an inspiration for the judiciary.
“Clear, lucid and often sprinkled with literary allusions, Justice Khosa’s decisions have been a delight to read, for both those, within the legal profession and those without.”
“Especially, in the realm of criminal law, Justice Khosa has done the Nation, a great service, by clarifying once murky questions and ensuring that the criminal defendants have access to the procedural protections, necessary for justice to prevail.”
As the top judge, he said, Justice Khosa “ventured into innovations to ensure effective and fast delivery of justice.”
