HYDERABAD, Oct 24: Chief Justice of Sindh High Court Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali has said that when certain things suffer from a trauma or shock, it takes some time to restore confidence but people will see an independent judiciary working.

He made it clear that there would be no compromise on the independence of judiciary and there will be no victimisation in confirmation of judges as merit will be the only criteria for them.

He was talking to Dawn during his visit to Sindh High Court, Hyderabad circuit bench here on Friday along with Justice Ameer Hani Muslim.

He believed that character and confidence building are needed under present circumstances. “In my opinion poor level of tolerance has become a national shortcoming”, he said. He added that it had become a habit that one should not appreciate one’s work and only go for criticism. He said that mindset of people needs to be changed through character building. “We should avoid criticising others and hold ourselves accountable first”, he emphasised.

Regarding confirmation of judges, he said that in the first batch the period of five judges who were appointed earlier (before November 3, 2007) have been extended for six months on September 16 so that their performance could be evaluated. He disclosed that confirmation of judges who were appointed on November 3, 2007 and December 15,2007 would also continue. “There will be no victimisation as it will be done on the basis of merit alone”, he said.

About filling of 90-100 vacancies in lower courts, he said that a process is under way by a committee. He said that applications received earlier are still intact and an advertisement would be published to give a chance to new applicants as well. He said that in two to three months judges and judicial officers would be appointed in lower courts on the basis of merit.

“Evening courts will start working this year on experimental basis and if there are good results then it will be replicated in other districts”, he said. The Chief Justice of SHC said that a meeting has been held in this regard with Director Access to Justice Programme Mr.Rehmat Hussain Jafri.

He expressed the hope that till vacancies are filled in lower courts the judges would be motivated to ensure that expeditious disposal of cases must take place. “Even otherwise I believe that disposal of cases in various districts is higher than the newly instituted ones”, he said.

About pending cases, he said that as far as principal seat is concerned the disposal of cases is higher than the ratio of newly instituted cases with some marginal difference. He said that soon new annexe building of Sindh High Court Hyderabad circuit bench would start working along with four judges.