Pakistan Today: Islamabad: Thursday,
March 23, 2017.
A video of
former Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and his son Arsalan
jumping the cue at an airport before boarding a flight went viral yesterday.
The controversial ex-CJP’s son’s attempt at justifying breaking the rules by
smugly arguing with other passengers that his ‘business class’ ticket afforded
him that right, which it does not, is reminiscent of the sacred cow syndrome
prevalent in the judiciary.
Coincidentally
the Lahore High Court (LHC) registrar on the same day has been asked by the
Punjab Information Commission to respond to a complaint under Punjab’s Right to
Information Act 2013 (RTI) in which the salary and perks of the Chief Justice
of Lahore have been asked to be made public.
Two other
RTI’s have also been filed concerning the LHC. One inquires upon the deployment
of security personnel to judges specifying the number at their homes and
offices separately. The second one attempts to gain some clarity on the
recruitment process of the LHC, in particular how much do they collect in
application fees and how come applicants, even after having paid the fee, are
not informed about their status.
The RTI
concerning the Chief Justice of Lahore has been pending since October last
year. The observations of the commission about the status of the complaint
highlight the reluctance of the LHC registrar to address it. On one hand the
LHC registrar denied having received the complaint at all while on the other
hand the required Public Information Officer (PIO) has not even been put in
place a requirement to be fulfilled within 60 day of the act being passed.
It is most
unfortunate that technicalities and delaying tactics are being used by the LHC
in order to avoid answering simple questions. High courts are quick to dispense
orders and decisions with regards to other institutions but when it comes to
their own transparency they refuse to be as expeditious. The information sought
after in the RTIs should be made public before the deadline otherwise the
credibility of the LHC will further come into question.
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