ISLAMABAD: A second extension for Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday and the reappointment of retired Justice Rahmat Hussain Jaffery as an ad hoc judge of the Supreme Court has been put off, apparently due to strong opposition from lawyers’ bodies.
The contentious matter was taken up on Saturday by the National Judicial Commission (NJC), which met with Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry in the chair, but has now been deferred.
According to sources, commission member Dr Khalid Ranjha, the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) representative opposed the ad hoc appointment of the two judges during the meeting.
Earlier on February 14, a full court meeting of the Supreme Court had passed a resolution for a one-year extension in Justice Ramday’s term and the ad hoc appointment of Justice (retd) Jaffery for two years.
Justice Ramday was appointed on February 18, 2010, for a period of one year on an ad hoc basis and was scheduled to retire on February 17 this year. Justice Jafferey retired as a Supreme Court judge on November 22, 2010.
On February 15, the Supreme Court had cancelled a full court reference in honour of Justice Ramday on the eve of his retirement on February 16.
President of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), Asma Jahangir, reacted strongly to the development. The executive committee of the Pakistan Bar Council also objected to the full court resolution for Justice Ramday and Justice Jaffery.
On Friday 18, Jahangir and Latif Afridi, Vice Chairman of the PBC, met Chief Justice Chaudhry and conveyed their reservations regarding the reappointment of the two judges.
Jahangir said on Saturday that she welcomed the decision of the judicial commission to defer the matter. She thanked the judicial commission for respecting the lawyers’ opinion. She said that despite the judges’ majority in the commission, they had taken the lawyers’ views into account. “By taking this decision, it seems we are headed towards maturity,” she added.
Jahangir said that the commission’s decision would strengthen the lawyers’ faith in the judiciary. She was of the view that judges should be inducted on a permanent basis, instead of giving them one-year extensions.
Meanwhile, the commission did however recommend the parliamentary committee to extend the tenure of six additional judges of the Sindh High Court and to drop three. Those whose names have been recommended for dropping are Justice Abdul Hadi Khoso, Justice Zahid Hamid and Justice Zakir. The tenure of all the nine judges expired on Friday.
The names of the six judges recommended for extension are Justice Imam Bux Baloch, Justice Nisar Muhammad Sheikh, Justice Tasneem, Justice Hassan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Salman Hamidi.
The commission comprises Justices Javed Iqbal, Shakirullah Jan, Tassaduq Jilani and Nasirul Mulk, Law Minister Dr Babar Awan, Attorney-General of Pakistan Maulvi Anwarul Haq and Dr Khalid Ranjha.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 20th, 2011.
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