He was talking to newsmen after administering oath to Justice Hamid Ali Mirza as an Ad Hoc Judge of the Supreme Court, for six months, here on Wednesday. It may be recalled that on March 9, President appointed Justice Javed Iqbal, the next senior most available Judge of the Supreme Court as Acting Chief Justice after sending a reference to the SJC since the senior most Judge Rana Bhagwandas was out of the country on leave.
Justice Iftikhar on Tuesday had raised objection to the appointment of Justice Javed Iqbal as Acting Chief Justice and composition of the Supreme Judicial Council. Replying to various questions of newsmen, Justice Javed Iqbal said: "We should all work for strengthening the institutions, rather than the individuals". He said that all matters would be decided in accordance with law, and there would be no constitutional deviation.
He said that since the media were unnecessarily scandalising a sub judice matter, the SJC had to caution the electronic and print media to refrain from indulging in 'media trial' of a sub judice matter before the Council.
He said that the Supreme Court "is committed to upholding the freedom of press" and information and the right of every citizen of the state of Pakistan to be kept informed. But comments of such people were being aired on TV channels "who are not familiar" with law and the constitution.
Justice Javed said that it was his responsibility to protect the honour and dignity of Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry. He has taken suo motu notice of manhandling of the non-functional Chief Justice and had ordered an inquiry into the incident. He said that action would be taken on the inquiry report. Meanwhile, lawyers observed a partial strike. However, the three benches of the Court disposed of a number of cases.
APP adds: Retired Justice Hamid Ali Mirza was appointed ad hoc judge for a further period of six months. The judges, who attended the oath-taking ceremony, were Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan, Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday, Justice Muhammad Nawaz Abbasi, Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, Justice M Javed Buttar, Justice Nasirul Mulk, Justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmed and Justice Syed Jamshed Ali Shah.
Senior advocates of the SC, including Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, Mehr Khan Malik and Federal and provincial law officers, besides senior officials of the SC and Secretary, Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan, Dr Faqir Hussain also attended the ceremony.