Elevation of judges: Lawyers’ bodies reject fellow bar’s assertion

Say preventing elevation of judges is a violation of Governance Order 2009.

GILGIT: The Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) High Court Bar Association and the Gilgit District Bar Association have rejected the Supreme Appellate Court Bar Association’s assertion that judges from lower courts should not be elevated to the apex court.

“Preventing elevation of judges from lower courts to G-B’s apex court is a violation of Governance Order 2009,” said G-B High Court Bar Association President Javed Khan, while addressing a news conference here on Wednesday.

He was referring to the statement issued by the Supreme Appellate Court Bar Association a day earlier that judges from lower courts should not be elevated to the apex court, on grounds that lower court judges are permanent employees while those hired in the apex court are on contracts.

“If lower court judges will not be considered for service in the apex court, they would not be getting due promotions and the whole judicial system would get disturbed,” said Khan.

Accompanied by Young Lawyers Forum President Tanzilur Rehman and District Bar Gilgit President Ziaur Rehman and a number of local lawyers, Khan stressed that judges from lowers courts should be promoted to the apex court, “the way it is done in Azad Kashmir and elsewhere in the country”.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 20^th, 2012.