Parliamentary panel endorses IHC nominations

Green-lights appointment of Babar Sattar, Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri as additional judges

ISLAMABAD:

A parliamentary panel has approved the appointment of two renowned lawyers – Babar Sattar and Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri – as additional judges of the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

After the appointment of Sattar and Jahangiri to the IHC, the total number of judges in the high court will become nine – just one short of its total sanctioned strength.

The eight-member Parliamentary Committee on Judges Appointment met on Monday at the Parliament House to deliberate on the credentials of the candidates whose nominations were earlier approved by the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) on December 3.

The committee comprised senators Farooq H Naek of the PPP, Javed Abbasi of the PML-N, Azam Swati of the PTI, Sarfraz Bugti of the BAP and MNAs Raja Pervez Ashraf of the PPP, Rana Sanaullah of the PML-N and Ali Mohammad Khan and Mohammad Asim Nazeer of the PTI.

Both the candidates also appeared before the committee. After convening the meeting, Abbasi said the committee has approved both the nominations.

“However, PTI’s Ali Mohammad Khan opposed Sattar’s appointment and did not cast his vote in Sattar’s favour. He, however, refrained from disclosing the grounds,” Abbasi said. 

After the meeting, Sattar said the candidates’ interaction with the committee was essential as the panel receives information about credentials of proposed judges from different sources.

To a question about his foreign assets, Sattar told the reporters that he has already declared all his local and foreign properties in the tax returns, adding that he has also resigned from some family-owned companies where he was associated as director.

Babar Sattar holds a Master of Law (LLM) degree from the Harvard School of Law and is also a writer, columnist and analyst.

Jahangiri, a former advocate general for Islamabad, is an expert in criminal, constitutional and civil laws. He was elected as president of the IHC Bar Association in 2016 and previously also served as president of the Islamabad District Bar Association.

Recently, the IHC’s Chief Justice Athar Minallah dismissed a petition challenging the constitutionality of the Parliamentary Committee on Judges’ Appointment saying that there is no reason for the court not to repose confidence and trust in the committee’s proceedings.

Justice Minallah while dismissing the petition in limine noted that the court is confident that the parliamentary committee will fulfill its constitutional obligation in ensuring the appointment of professionally competent, upright and independent minded persons as judges of IHC.

The petitioner challenged the vires of rules 3 and 5 of the Parliamentary Committee on Judges Appointment in the Superior Courts Rules, 2010, arguing that a nominee for appointment as a judge of the high court cannot be invited or summoned by the parliamentary panel for an interview.

In the order, the IHC chief justice stated the court would not be justified in assuming that by inviting the two nominated candidates, the parliamentary committee had exceeded its jurisdiction or violated the principles and law enunciated by the Supreme Court in the several judgments.

“As chosen representatives of the people, the members of the Parliamentary Committee are in a better position to appreciate the importance of having impartial, fair, competent, upright and independent minded judges on the Benches,” Justice Minallah noted.