SC registrar returns plea to fix 65 years as retirement age of GB judges

The Supreme Court Registrar Office on Monday returned the petition filed for fixing 65 years as retirement age of the chief judge and judges of the Supreme Appellate Court of Gilgit-Baltistan (SAC-GB) instead of the present fixed tenure of three years.

The Registrar, while returning the petition filed against the three-year fixed appointment of judges, said that petitioner Muhammad Hussain Shehad had not approached the relevant forum for redressal.

“The matter is not permitted to go directly to the apex court, and the contents of the petition are not satisfactory enough to warrant suo motu notice,” it said.

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The petition did not address the issue of public interest, it added.

It may be noted here that the petitioner, through senior counsel Hamid Khan and Muhammad Waqar Rana, had earlier urged the Supreme Court to fix 65 years as the retirement age of GB judges

“The provision relating to the fixing of the retirement age of the chief judge and two judges of the SAC-GB is discriminatory, thus unconstitutional being against Article 25 of the Constitution, read with Article 26 of the Government of Gilgit-Baltistan Order (GB-Order), 2018,” argued a joint petition moved by president of the Supreme Appellate Court Bar Association (SACBA-GB) Hussain Shehad, vice chairman of the GB Bar Council Shafqat Wali, general secretary of the SACBA-GB and former president of the SACBA-Gilgit.