PBC voices concern over extensions for SC judges

‘Such appointments are against the independence of the judiciary’.

ISLAMABAD: The Executive Committee of Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) urged its chairman, Attorney General for Pakistan Maulvi Anwar-ul-Haq, to convene a meeting of the council on February 23 to discuss the appointment of Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday and Justice Rehmat Hussain Jaffery as ad-hoc judges of the Supreme Court.

The meeting, held in Supreme Court building, chaired by Asrarul Haq Mian and co-chaired by Abdul Latif Afridi, vice-chairman of the PBA, and attended by seven other members, took ‘serious’ note of the resolution passed by a full court meeting regarding another extension for Justice Ramday, whose previous ad-hoc tenure expired on Thursday, and the re-appointment of Justice Jaffery as an ad-hoc judge for two years.

The meeting considered that the resolution passed by the full court was not only unprecedented but unconstitutional and violated Article 182 of the Constitution.

The meeting resolved that ad-hoc appointments in such a manner also goes against the independence of the judiciary and violates the historic 31 July 2009 judgment in this regard.

The executive committee also recalled a resolution passed in a previous meeting of the PBC wherein it was resolved that ad-hocism in the judiciary should be eliminated.

The committee also condemned the issuing of show cause notices to the sitting judges of Supreme Court by PCO judge Justice Jahanzeb Rahim and his request that the president file a reference against the Chief Justice of Pakistan.

The committee also voiced concern over an order by the apex court suspending the decision of the parliamentary committee with respect to non-confirmation of four additional judges of the Lahore High Court.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 18^th, 2011.