President approves extension for six judges

Extensions had become a cause of friction between judiciary, legislature.

ISLAMABAD:

President Asif Ali Zardari approved, late Tuesday, an extension in the services of six additional judges of the Lahore and Sindh High courts.

Spokesperson to the president, Farhatullah Babar said that following the Supreme Court’s verdict on the matter and on the advice of the Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, President Zardari approved service extensions for four Lahore High Court and two Sindh High Court Additional Judges for a period of one year.

Earlier, the extensions of these six judges had created friction between the judiciary and legislature. The Parliamentary Committee on the Appointment of Judges had not accepted the recommendations of Judicial Commission to extend their tenures. The Supreme Court subsequently rejected the non-acceptance by the parliamentary committee – overruling the decision through a court order stating that the judicial committee had primacy over the parliamentary body in this matter.

Last week, the apex court rejected a plea by the government to review that ruling.

Those given extension include Justices Mamoon Rashid Sheikh, Mohammed Farrukh Irfan Khan, Syed Mazhar Ali Akbar Naqvi and Mohammed Yawar Ali of LHC and Justices Salman Hamid and Mohammed Tasnim of SHC, he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 27^th, 2011.