SC to take up petition against SHC appointments

Three-judge special bench to hear two constitutional petitions on Monday

ISLAMABAD:

Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed has constituted a special bench to hear constitutional petitions, requesting the court to revoke all appointments made in the Sindh High Court (SHC) and the district judiciary in the province since 2017.

The three-judge special bench – comprising Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel – will take up two constitutional petitions on Monday.

The first petitioner, Ghulam Sarwar Qureshi Advocate, pleaded that under Article 184(3) of the Constitution, the apex court should form a joint investigation team comprising senior judges of the SHC to investigate the appointments made since 2017.

The petitioner asked the court to seek the record of all appointments from the SHC registrar, the SHC chief justice and the government of Sindh.

He also requested the court to issue an order for the de-notification of all appointments and to conduct an inquiry against the SHC chief justice, registrar and judges of district courts for violating the law.

The petition sought the court’s directions to restrain the SHC chief justice from making appointments until the case was decided. The SHC chief justice, the SHC registrar, the Sindh government as well as the federal governments were nominated as respondents in the application.

The Sindh Bar Council (SBC) has recently filed a petition challenging the elevation of three judges of the Lahore High Court (LHC) to the apex court. Earlier, the bar council had raised serious questions about “out-of-turn elevation” of judges to the Supreme Court.