Bars demand removal of judges promoted out of turn

The legal fraternity on Thursday demanded that judges should be appointed on the basis of the seniority principle and those elevated out-of-turn be removed.

“The principle of keeping seniority in mind in the appointment of judges in the Supreme Court has been agreed upon,” Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Ahsan Bhoon said at a news conference after a meeting with officials of the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) as they chalked out a joint strategy.

“Chief Justice [of Pakistan] Gulzar Ahmed should not be appointing judges against this principle before his retirement,” he added, referring to the top judge nominating Lahore High Court’s Justice Ayesha Malik, who stand at fourth number in the seniority list, for the SC slot.

Bhoon further said judges should be appointed on the basis of merit, competence and seniority. “There should be a single forum for the appointment and removal of judges,” he added.

The participants of the meeting between officials of the PBC and the SCBA maintained that the factor of “nepotism” was very influential in the appointment of judges.

They demanded that the constitutional article on the appointment of judges should be amended.

The number of judges in the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) should be reduced. Two members of the opposition should also be included in the body.

Read SCBA set to challenge lifetime disqualification of MPs

Judges like Justice Qazi Faez Isa are rare. Such qualified judges should be brought forward.

The participants of the meeting demanded that a parliamentary commission be formed to review the judges appointed from 2009 to 2013.

The commission should remove the judges, who did not meet the standards, from their posts.

The meeting was attended by PBC Vice Chairman Amjad Shah and its Executive Committee Chairman Masood Chishti.

The superior bars have summoned an emergency meeting on January 3 (Monday) to evolve a joint strategy on the nomination of Lahore High Court’s Justice Ayesha Malik for her appointment as a Supreme Court judge.

A statement issued by the PBC a day earlier read that CJP Gulzar had again proposed the name of an LHC junior judge, who was at number four in the seniority list.

The move was superseding three senior judges including the LHC chief justice and the decision would be made at next JCP meeting which is being held on January 5.

The superior bars are consistently opposing the elevation of junior high court judges to the SC for the last couple of years. Even the members of the JCP are divided on the seniority principle.