Another civil servant appointed as SC registrar

Ishrat Ali, a BS-22 officer, succeeds Jawad Paul who went on leave in July

ISLAMABAD:

The Establishment Division on Wednesday issued a notification for Ishrat Ali’s appointment as the registrar of the Supreme Court — handing over the office to yet another civil servant amid criticism from a section of superior bars and a senior judge of the apex court.

According to the notification, Ali, grade-22 officer of the Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS), presently posted as OSD, Establishment Division, has been transferred and his services are placed at the disposal of the apex court for his appointment as the registrar on deputation basis with immediate effects until further orders.

The development comes against the backdrop of a chorus of senior lawyers voicing their concerns that the sensitive post warrants the services of a high court or lower court judge.

Interestingly, civil servant Jawad Paul was appointed as the registrar for a period of three years in July last year. However, he was on leave since July this year.

During the Judicial Commission of Pakistan’s (JCP) meeting on July 28, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial told the members that the SC Registrar, who is also the secretary of the JCP, went on leave on account of criticism. Paul had said that he could not work in this condition as he was grade-22 officer.

Paul was facing criticism from Justice Qazi Faez Isa due to several reasons. In June, Justice Isa had urged CJP Bandial to remove the SC registrar, who was a civil servant and was working on deputation, as it violated the Constitution of Pakistan.

Read more: Elevation of Judges to the Supreme Court of Pakistan: seniority issue

In a five-page letter addressed to CJ Bandial, Justice Isa sought the removal of the registrar “before he causes the institution irreparable harm” and maintained that he had repeatedly insisted that a bureaucrat who is an integral part of the executive – the Prime Minister’s Secretariat – could not hold the slot as it violated Article 175 (3) of the Constitution.

“This is exacerbated when the bureaucrat is incompetent with a demonstrable alternative agenda who with each passing day undermines the credibility, depute, independence and authority of the Supreme Court," the senior judge wrote.

Justice Isa also raised questions over the filing of a writ petition by the SC registrar against the Pakistan Information Commission’s (PIC) order for sharing details of the apex court’s staff.

He further recalled that he had also written to ex-CJP Gulzar Ahmed to withdraw the writ petition from the Islamabad High Court (IHC) as the same was filed without consultation of all judges.

Justice Isa went on to raise questions over the full court meeting for enhancing the perks and privileges of retired judges during ex-CJP Mian Saqib Nisar's tenure. He further questioned the proposal to provide vehicles to retired judges.

"The last time full court met was on December 12, 2009. A number of important matters affecting the administration of justice need urgent resolution,” he highlighted.

However, Justice Isa added, Paul continued to overlook these important matters, choosing instead to focus his attention on “diverting public resources”. He circulated for affirmation by the full court a proposal to provide vehicles to retired judges, he added.

“I received this embarrassing proposal on June 1, 2022. The same day I asked the registrar to refer to the law, rule or regulation empowering the full court to do what is proposed,” the letter further read.

Following this letter, he went on leave. After two months, a new registrar has been appointed. However, it is not clear whether Justice Isa has been consulted regarding the appointment of the new registrar.

The post of the registrar is very sensitive since he is the secretary to JCP as well as the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) a forum to remove judges on account of their misconduct. The registrar possesses the record of JCP as well as SJC.

Senior lawyers believe that it is not easy to work as the registrar under the prevailing situation where senior judges are not on the same page.

The top court has been acquiring the services of a civil servant on deputation for the post since the retirement of Dr Faqir Hussain, who also got a one-time job extension.

Dr Hussain was appointed by former CJP Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. He was followed by Tahir Shahbaz, who was then replaced by Arbab Arif. The top administrative post in the apex court is now occupied by Khawaja Daud.

Senior lawyers believe that the sensitive post warrants the services of a high court or lower court judge. They said that hiring civil servants after every three years would not send a good message to the public as thousands of employees had been repatriated to their parent departments due to the apex court’s interference.

They maintained that if permanent employees were not eligible to perform at key posts, specialists should be hired from different sectors for their capacity building. Superior bars have already disapproved of the trend of hiring civil servants to the apex court on deputation.