JCP to consider appointment of BHC judges amid criticism

PBC member claims provincial bodies not consulted

ISLAMABAD:

Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial has summoned a meeting of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) on June 10 to consider five names for the additional judges of the Balochistan High Court (BHC).

BHC Chief Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan has recommended five names for the appointment of high court additional judges. The nominees include Gul Hassan Tareen, Iqbal Kasi, Shaukat Rakhshani, Sardar Haleemi and Amir Rana.

However, a member of the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) – a regulatory body of lawyers – Muneer Kakar, who also hails from the province, has expressed serious reservations over the nominees, claiming that provincial bodies were not consulted before initiation of these names.

He alleged that the nominations reeked of “favouritism” and “nepotism” and wondered as to why the lawyers, who are chamber fellows of superior courts, were being accommodated.

They have already submitted details of all nominees to CJP through open letters, he added.

He further expected that the commission would rather defer the matter regarding the appointment of these judges till amendments in JCP rules 2010 are made, adding representatives of bars would raise their objections in the JCP meeting.

Meanwhile, the deadlock regarding the appointment of Sindh High Court (SHC) additional judges has also refused to die down.

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Earlier, SHC CJ Ahmed Ali Sheikh had finalised a few names for the appointments but provincial bars objected to the nominations on the grounds that the nominees were non-ethnic Sindhi.

Subsequently, following the intervention of CJP, the names were dropped. It was learnt that in the light of objections, SHC CJ has finalised another list of nominees excluding the non-ethnic Sindhi judges.

However, the PBC representative in JCP, Akhtar Hussain, took exception to the move and stressed that those who were dropped from the list were competent enough for the job.

Senior lawyers have expressed concerns over the developments, urging that the judiciary should avoid such controversy wherein judges are being appointed and dropped on an ethnic basis.

Regarding the appointment of SC judges, the CJP has yet to propose any name. Currently, three seats of SC judges are vacant.

A representative of the bar claims that JCP members who are supporting the seniority principle are in majority.

PBC member has already written a letter to CJP that the rule committee be reconstituted in order to frame criteria regarding judges' appointments.