The parliamentary committee is empowered by the Constitution to reject nominations of judges forwarded by the Judicial Commission, Additional Attorney-General (AAG) KK Agha submitted before the Supreme Court on Thursday.
A four-member bench of the apex court headed by Justice MA Shahid Siddiqui heard the case challenging the parliamentary committee’s rejection of the names of two additional judges of the Sindh High Court and four of the Lahore High Court proposed by the commission.
“Since the parliamentary committee is not a rubber stamp, it exercised its constitutional right to reject the commission’s nominations,” Agha argued before the court during the course of hearing.
Justice Jawad S Khawaja, a member of the bench, inquired about upholding the judiciary’s independence in case names recommended by the commission are rejected. He remarked that the chief justice’s opinion should be respected.
The LHC judges were not confirmed because they were said to be biased, Agha argued. “A one-year extension for a biased judge would not be in the interests of the institution,” he said.
“The appointment of judges with an impeccable record is a pre-requisite for an independent judiciary”, he argued. He said there were serious allegations against the judges who were not approved by the parliamentary committee.
AAG informed the court that so far the parliamentary committee has rejected only six names out of the 80 forwarded by the Judicial Commission. “This should not reflect a lack of confidence in constitutional institutions”, he said.
The court appreciated the arguments presented by the AAG and adjourned further hearing till Friday (today).
Published in The Express Tribune, March 4th, 2011.
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