Legal trouble: IHC rejects petition against judges’ restoration

The petitioner termed restoration of judges through executive order ‘illegal’.

ISLAMABAD:

As soon as it was submitted, a petition challenging the restoration of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry through an executive order was returned to the petitioner by the registrar of the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

In the petition submitted under article 199 of the Constitution, Advocate Shahjahan Khan Durrani sought court’s direction to the president and prime minister to withdraw the March 17, 2009 notification of the restoration of Justice Chaudhry.

Terming the act of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani as illegal, the petitioner maintained that the premier, by restoring the sacked judges of the superior courts through an executive order, deprived him of his fundamental right as guaranteed in the Constitution. The petitioner mentioned that he initially wrote to the PM, asking him to redress his grievance.

The registrar’s office found the petition incomplete and returned it to the petitioner.

It is speculated that the petition was an attempt to hinder PM Gilani’s pending appearance before a seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court (SC) on February 13. The PM is charged with defying a court order, asking him to write a letter to the Swiss authorities for reopening of graft cases against President Zardari.

The superior judiciary, especially the chief justice, had been warned of a withdrawal of the executive order of their restoration. However, the petition seems to be the first direct assault on the SC judges.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 12^th, 2012.