Ceremony cancelled as SHC CJ skips oath-taking

Farewell reference for Justice Mushir Alam also called off because pandemic

ISLAMABAD:

Sindh High Court Chief Justice Ahmad Ali Sheikh stayed firm on his decision of not taking oath as an ad hoc judge of the Supreme Court, as he did not attend the oath-taking ceremony on Tuesday, leading to the cancellation of the function at the eleventh hour.

However, it was not only ceremony at the apex court to be cancelled. The farewell reference in honour of retiring judge Justice Mushir Alam could not be held. The Supreme Court Registrar Office stated that farewell reference was cancelled due to coronavirus pandemic.

However, there were reports that the farewell reference was called off in order to avoid the lawyers’ anger regarding elevation of junior judges to Supreme Court as well as ad hoc appointment of the SHC chief justice.

“Tuesday was a very sad day, when farewell reference could not be arranged in the honour of a judge who spent more than two decades in this institution,” a senior government official in the law department said on condition of anonymity.

Farewell references were held in honour of recently retired judges namely Justice Faisal Arab and Justice Manzoor Ahmad Malik even during coronavirus.

The official said that the lawyers should have given respect to Justice Mushir Alam, who had refused to take oath under the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) promulgated by the then military ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf in November 2007.

An Islamabad-based lawyer believed that when farewell reference was cancelled one day before the schedule, it would have better to cancel the oath-taking ceremony earlier. He added that that ad hoc appointment issue should not be made the issue of ego by the judges.

Now debate has started as whether the superior judiciary will take any action against the SHC chief justice regarding his refusal to take oath as an ad hoc judge. Sources told The Express Tribune that it was very clear that the Supreme Court would not take any step against Chief Justice Sheikh.

Chief Justice Sheikh was nominated as an ad hoc judge of the Supreme Court for one year by the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) with 5-4 vote during a meeting on August 10. However, in a letter to the Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmad refused to take oath as the ad hoc judge.

In the JCP meeting, Attorney General for Pakistan Khalid Jawed Khan and other members did not support the applicability of Article 206 (2) of the Constitution, which stated that if a high court judge does not accept his appointment as the Supreme Court judge, then he would be deemed retired.

The Attorney General believed that the Article 206 (2) applied on permanent seat and not on ad hoc appointment. Senior JCP members also endorsed the AGP's viewpoint. Interestingly, the discussion related to the applicability of Article 206(2) of the Constitution is not mentioned in minutes.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) Vice Chairman Khush Dil Khan stated that the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) could not proceed against the SHC chief justice as he had already refused to become an ad hoc judge.

Also, an all Pakistan lawyers representatives convention will be held on August 21 to devise a future strategy. It is learnt that lawyers are considering to make a demand for regulating the discretionary powers of the chief justice regarding constitution of benches as well as fixation of cases.

Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmad is proceeding abroad later this week. In his absence Justice Umar Ata Bandial will serve as the acting chief justice. Justice Qazi Faez Isa will administer the oath to Justice Bandial as the acting chief justice on Friday.