SHC Karachi seat to work with 5 judges

Confusion prevails among lawyers as to who will hear cases on Monday.

KARACHI: The indecision and delay in the appointment of judges could render the Sindh High Court to have an all-time low in the number of judges: five in all at the principal seat in Karachi, with eight judges away to sit in three circuit benches each at Sukkur, Hyderabad and Larkana.

The Judicial Commission met on Saturday at Islamabad and recommended names of six out of the nine additional judges for an extension in their tenure as additional judge for another year. The recommended judges are Justices Imam Bux Baloch, Nisar Muhammad Shaikh, Muhammad Tasneem, Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Salman Hamid and Muhammad Ali Mazhar.

Those who were laid off as they were not recommended are Abdul Hadi Khoso, Zahid Hamid and Syed Zakir Hussain.

According to the new procedure laid down under the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, the Parliamentary Committee is to discuss and approve the names - or otherwise - recommended to it by the Judicial Commission. After approval by the Parliamentary Committee, the President of Pakistan, who is the appointing authority, signs the notification which is then published in the official gazette.

A judge will be validly appointed only after a notification is issued and received at the SHC, said Justice (retired) Rasheed A Razvi advocate, the former president of the SHC Bar Association (SHCBA) and a senior-most advocate of both the SHC and the Supreme Court.

I have never seen such a situation in my 20-year career as an advocate, said senior lawyer Shaukat Hayat. “This was unprecedented.”

The total strength as on Saturday was 13.

According to the SHC official website, the judges sitting at the principal seat and three circuit benches are Chief Justice Musheer Alam, Justices Gulzar Ahmed, Maqbool Baqar, Muhammad Ather Saeed, Faisal Arab, Sajjad Ali Shah, Shahid Anwar Bajwa, Ghulam Sarwar Korai, Tufail H Ebrahim, Ahmed Ali M Sheikh, Ifran Saadat Khan, Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi and Munib Akhtar.

According to the roster of the SHC for February 21 to March 5, out of these 13 judges, Justices Fasial Arab, Shahid Anwar Bajwa and Tufail H Ebrahim will be sitting at the Sukkur circuit bench, Justices Maqbool Baqar, Munib Akhtar and Nisar Muhammad Shaikh at Hyderabad circuit bench and Justices Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi and Salman Hamid at Hyderabad circuit bench - leaving only five to work at the Karachi bench.

There was utter confusion among lawyers as the list of cases fixed before the judges on Monday, February 21, commonly called the ‘cause list’ contained names of three judges who were not recommended for a tenure extension, while the judges, whose tenure as additional judge was extended, were not on the cause list for the day. The list available on SHC’s official website was not updated till late Sunday.

SHCBA president Anwar Mansoor Khan also said that confusion prevailed about the cases fixed for Monday. “In my view, only the confirmed judges working under a notification or [having a] nod by the President of Pakistan could sit on the benches on Monday.” The 19th Amendment spells out an elaborate procedure and unless the exercise is completed, including the due approval by the Parliamentary Committee and the subsequent notification by the appointing authority, the process of appointment would not be deemed complete or valid, he explained.

Earlier, an SHC official requesting anonymity told The Express Tribune that work on the cause list was stopped on Saturday morning as the SHC awaited decisions of the Judicial Commission. He, however, dispelled the impression that the six judges whose names were recommended will be sitting on the benches on Monday. The official believed that no notification is required as they have already been working as judges and have a nod from the Judicial Commission.

Meanwhile, Haider Imam Rizvi, the Karachi Bar Association honorary secretary, said that instead of a one-year extension as additional judge, they should have been confirmed.

Referring to the tenure extension of six judges, he said they can only become SHC judges when the president signs their appointment notification. Citing Article 175 and its sub articles, he explained that the Parliamentary Committee is required to send the recommendation by the Judicial Commission to the prime minister who will then send it to the president.

The Parliamentary Committee can reject a recommendation and in such a case, it is bound to give reasons in writing and return it to the Judicial Commission for reconsideration. “Unless this entire process is completed, an appointment recommended by the Judicial Commission would not be considered valid,” Rizvi reiterated.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 21^st, 2011.