IHC judges’ appointment: Law ministry asks PM to issue notification

Summary sent to PM following apex court directions.

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Law and Justice has sent a summary to Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf for appointment of two judges of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) who were sent home unceremoniously last month.

According to media reports, Law Minister Farooq Naek, on Supreme Court’s orders, has sent a summary to the prime minister for issuing notifications for the appointment of Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui as a regular judge and Justice Noorul Haq Qureshi as an additional judge for six months.

President Asif Ali Zardari, after receiving the recommendations from the prime minister, will issue an order for the appointment of these two judges.

Both judges were sent home when their nominations by a judicial commission were not approved by the president.



The Judicial Commission of Pakistan had recommended their appointment on September 22, 2012. The parliamentary panel on judges’ appointment had also approved the recommendations and the prime minister then forwarded the same to the president for notification.

Last week, the apex court, on a petition moved by Advocate Nadeem Ahmed, ordered the government to issue the notification for the appointment of the two judges.

The directions came after hearing a reference sent by the president to the Supreme Court, invoking its advisory jurisdiction. The reference, which is still pending with the apex court, sought the top court’s opinion on a host of questions including the seniority dispute between IHC judges Justice Mohammad Anwar Khan Kasi and Justice Riaz Ahmed Khan.

The law ministry and the Prime Minister House, however, neither denied nor confirmed the reports till the filing of this story.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 26^th, 2012.