Justice Jamal Mandokhail’s appointment as Chief Justice BHC & drastic measures required for the uplift of judicial system
Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail [Mandokhel] will head the Balochistan High Court (BHC) as the next Chief Justice from 5th October 2019.
A notification in this regard was released by the federal law ministry on Thursday after the approval of the on merit appointment by the President of Pakistan Arif Alvi.
Background of Justice Jamal Mandokhail:
Belonging to a “Noble” family Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail is the son of Feroz Khan a businessman and grandson of Shaikh Ahmed Khan – who served the entire Balochistan as Deputy Commissioner till 1969.
Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail was enrolled as an advocate on the 1st June 1988 and it has been now over three decades that he is providing justice to the people and organizations of Balochistan impartially and with nobility.
He was elected as an unopposed General Secretary of Balochistan High Court Bar Association and have led numerous prestigious designations during his career.
Justice Jamal as an advocate and active member of Bar politics played vital role in the “Restoration and Independence of Judiciary” during the “Pakistan Lawyers Movement”.
He swore oath as acting chief justice of BHC four times — in June 2011, March 2013, June 2013 and December 2013.
Justice Jamal Mandokhail is considered as an “upright” and “just” person within the Mandokhail tribe too and is well revered all over Balochistan for his immaculate conduct.
Drastic measures required for the uplift of Balochistan’s Judicial System:
After the assuming of charge as the Chief Justice of Balochistan High Court Mr. Justice Jamal Mandokhail will be faced with massive responsibility of the entire province of Balochistan similar to that of his grandfather Shaikh Ahmed Khan who had authority on the entire Balochistan province in late 1960’s being the then deputy commissioner.
If only the judicial system of Balochistan is corrected and improved – the province can become one of the world’s best economical hub and tourist destination as each and every field of life and all affairs of the public and government are tied to the fair delivery of justice.
The province has become the den of corruption, plunder and bias due to the political meddling of the selected leaders for past many decades.
Few people and their families are dominating the entire economics and political system of the province using the massive wealth being extorted from public exchequer using their might and connections in the political system – all this wrongdoing and injustice can only be corrected by a strong, impartial judicial system which sees no relation or excuse in deciding the issues on merits and providing justice.
Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel may consider the following to address the very poor state of lower judiciary in the province:
- The criteria of appointment of civil judges, judicial magistrates, additional session judges must urgently be reconsidered and a strict policy based on merit, thorough experience in the field, specialisation and other required aspects including the past conduct and affiliations of the candidate must be made mandatory prior to the appointment of the said judges by the honourable BHC – as currently there is over 80% dissatisfaction by the people of Balochistan over the proceedings in lower judiciary due to the reasons of incompetency, favouritism, tribalism, haste and involvement in private businesses of many lower court’s judges.
- A new strong and neutral supervisory body needs to be established to keep check on the lower judiciary and their affairs and strict punishments be introduced for those involved in malpractices.
- Touts Mafia (relatives-friends-employees of former judges) who are well known in each district/division of the province and more need to be identified and need to be penalised and directed to be kept away from the judicial premises and residences.
- Advocate General and Prosecutor General posts which are currently filled after consultation with political governments in power must be appointed purely on merit by devising some new policy so as to safeguard the public assets and exchequer.
- Similarly special courts judges who are appointed on the recommendation of Bar Councils may also be appointed on pure merit.
- All courts of Balochistan must be equipped with advanced Information Technology and video surveillance systems and final arguments in each case must be made mandatory to be video and voice recorded and kept in record for at least 15 years so as to avoid blame games both by the counsels and the courts at the stage of appeal on higher forums.
- Lower Court’s Judges must be accountable for deciding cases in haste, without merits, for being biased, for not having considered the record available on file – as their incompetency creates piles of overload on the higher forums of judiciary and increase a common man’s distrust on the judiciary.
- A prompt mobile messaging and E-Mail alerts system must be adopted to keep the lawyers contesting the cases and the parties of the case well informed for timely appearances.
The World Justice Project and Pakistan:
The WJP Rule of Law Index measures rule of law adherence in 113 countries and jurisdictions worldwide – has issued its detailed “Rule of Law Index” report for the year 2017-2018. The report has ranked Pakistan at No.105 in overall ranking even far below than many dictatorship regimes and countries where no judicial system exist and the word of the top ruler is the law – therefore the so low ranking of the report for Pakistan is debatable but there are many factors which can be learnt from it and used for improving the judicial system of Pakistan largely.