Law reigns supreme for Punjab’s top judge

Justice Mansoor Ali Shah on a mission to clear judiciary’s name

LAHORE: Akin to the main character in ‘The Just Judge’ written by Russian author Leo Tolstoy, Lahore High Court Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah has been one of the righteous judges the province has seen so far.

Since the day of his oath taking, he has never been hesitant in making tough decisions to rid the judiciary of corruption.

Singlehandedly the man has been trying to improve the reputation of the judiciary. Be it the halting of signal free corridor or the elevated expressway, issuing orders for the rights of pensioners, provision of clean drinking water, healthy environment, suspension of dozens of lower judiciary judges and staffers of the LHC or by barring lawyers from practice, he has taken judicial and administrative steps considered very tough even by law pundits. However, he has much to do to ensure transparency and merit, at least at the establishment level of the Lahore High Court to set a precedent for the rule of law.

On September 26, a three-member bench of the Supreme Court passed a historical, 51-page judgment, declaring 74 jobs made by Islamabad High Court Chief Justice as illegal and unconstitutional.

“If the competent authority itself starts cherry picking by deliberately ignoring and overlooking qualified and excellent candidates in appointments exercising powers under Rule 26 of the Lahore High Court Rules 1981 or Rule 16 of the Islamabad High Court, then the reputation of the institution will be tainted beyond repair,” the judgment stated.

The court directed fresh recruitments through the National Testing Service (NTS), the same procedure that is for the SC and the Sindh High Court.

It observed that the procedure of advertising the posts in newspapers for making appointments through open competition after conducting tests and interview had been ignored entirely.

The above cited judgment of the SC has clearly limited the scope of Rule 26 of Lahore High Court Rules 1981. The Rule 26 states, “Nothing in these rules shall be deemed to limit or abridge the powers of the Chief Justice to appoint or promote any person who has neither passed nor qualified an examination held by the Public Service Commission or under these rules or to deal with the case of any person in such manner as may appear to him to be just and equitable.”

About this rule, the SC in its above mentioned judgment said that absolute power to relax a certain service rule has not been conferred on the CJ and this power can be exercised where it does not encroach upon the statutory rights of the other persons or employees.

No such appointments under Rule 26 are made at the LHC during the tenure of the present or few previous CJs. However, even at the LHC, more than 20 officers were hired and promoted by three former CJs, ignoring the transparency and encroaching upon the rights of the deserved.

Of these officers, two are the sons of the sisters-in-law of two former CJs, a nephew of a former CJ, a son of follower of a spiritual leader who was also followed by a former CJ. These officers appointed under Rule 26 are now functioning on posts of Additional Registrar of BS 20/21, Deputy Registrar BS 19, Assistant Registrar BS 18 and Assistants BS 16.

The just judge, CJ Syed Mansoor Ali Shah of the LHC, should resolve this issue as well in line of his policy based on transparency and merit without waiting for the matter to be taken to the SC.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 10^th, 2016.