2009 judgment: Bars to challenge SC’s judges removal ruling

LHCBA will file review petition today against SC’s judgment related to removal of more than 100 superior court judges.


Hasnaat Malik January 27, 2014
LHCBA will file review petition today against SC’s judgment related to removal of more than 100 superior court judges. PHOTO: FILE

ISLAMABAD:


The Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) will file a review petition today against the Supreme Court’s July 31, 2009 judgment related to the removal of more than 100 superior court judges.


Ali Zafar, counsel for the LHCBA, told The Express Tribune that he had drafted the review petition which challenged the court’s decision related to the sacked judges including the issue of contempt notices in violation of the court’s November 3, 2007 decision against the Emergency and PCO.

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“We have also raised questions over the removal of those judges who had taken their oath under the Constitution after December 2008 and they did not violate the court’s November 3, 2007 order,” he said. The petition contends that the process of removing judges was unconstitutional in view of Article 209 of the Constitution, Zafar added.

Meanwhile, the Sindh High Court Bar Association (SHCBA) has also moved to challenge the 2009 judgment. Akhtar Hussain, counsel for the SHCBA, told The Express Tribune that the review petition has been drafted and a date for filing had yet to be decided.

He said the superior judiciary had been in crisis since July 2009 as the sacked judges were not reconsidered for their fresh appointments in view of the SC’s 1996 Aljihad case judgment.

Other provincial bars have also engaged their attorneys to present their case before the 14-member bench of the apex court regarding the revisit of its judgment, The Express Tribune has learned.

Latif Afrdi will argue on behalf of the Peshawar High Court Bar Association and Kamran Murtaza will represent the Balochisan High Court Bar Association in this case. Sources revealed that several aggrieved judges may also challenge the SC’s judgment regarding their removal.

Most of the aggrieved judges are dominant in the bar’s politics, and several resolutions have already been passed by the superior bars regarding the revisit of the July 2009 judgment as well as reconsidering the fresh appointment of aggrieved judges, sources said.

A 14-member bench of the SC, headed by Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani will take up Musharraf’s review petition on Tuesday.

On December 23, 2013, Musharraf moved a review petition under Article 188 of the Constitution, requesting to suspend the operation of the July 31, 2009 judgment.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 27th, 2014.

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