More demand, less supply: Low competence levels keep judicial posts vacant

Report to be submitted before National Judicial Policymaking Committee.

KARACHI: Up to 30 per cent posts of judicial officers in the subordinate judiciary across Sindh are lying vacant due to dearth of competent individuals for the appointment as judges, The Express Tribune has learnt.

According to sources, the sanctioned strength of the subordinate judiciary is 505, out of which 135 posts of the judicial officers are currently unoccupied.

This figure has been revealed in a report, which will be submitted by the Sindh High Court Chief Justice Maqbool Baqar before the National Judicial Policymaking Committee in its meeting today [Saturday].



Chief Justice of Pakistan Tassaduq Hussain Jillani is scheduled to chair the meeting in Lahore to review the performance of the superior and subordinate judiciary across the country.

According to the report, available with The Express Tribune, there are 27 sanctioned posts of the district and sessions' judges, 115 additional district and sessions' judges, 103 senior civil judges and 259 civil judges and judicial magistrates in the province.

Officials said that the strength of the subordinate judiciary, which is the basic forum for majority of the litigants for redressal of their grievances, was enhanced to 446 in the fiscal year 2013-14 by sanctioning 58 new posts.

The working strength of the important public institute is, however, still 370 because 135 posts are yet to be filled, claimed officials.

It is expected that a strategy might be devised in the meeting to deal with the challenges, particularly the delays in timely dispensation of justice, the judiciary is facing.

Qualification merits

A senior judicial official, who preferred to remain anonymous, said that the large number of vacancies were mostly due to the lack of competent candidates for appointment as judicial officers, adding that after November 3, 2013, the judiciary had decided to make appointments solemnly on the basis of merit.

"To ensure that the merit is not compromised, the institute has introduced the National Testing Service's examinations for appointments. The new testing mechanism, however, has shown unsatisfactory passing percentage in the recent examinations," claimed an official privy to the process. The concerns have also been shown on the higher levels - SHC CJ Maqbool Baqar, while addressing a reception in his honour by the Sindh Bar Council, had publically claimed that only three out of 1,500 candidates had qualified for the requisite test and examination for the posts of the additional district and sessions judges.

Teaching standards

Those in the legal teaching profession agree with the province's top judge. "There are various reasons behind the deteriorating standards of the legal education in the province, if not the entire country," remarked retired Justice Qazi Khalid, the dean of the recently established Law Faculty at the Karachi University.

He explained that the lack of trained professionals and teaching system as well as the absenteeism among the teachers and the students are the prime reasons why the standards of the legal education were not up to the mark.

Khalid underscored the need to improve professionalism and working environment in the legal education institutes in line with the orders and directions already passed by the Supreme Court of Pakistan in this regard.

The apex court while deciding multiple cases back in 2007 and 2013 had directed the country's top lawyers' regulatory body, the Pakistan Bar Council, the Higher Education Commission and other government authorities to take remedial steps on priority to ensure that the standards of the legal education are maintained in the country.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 1^st, 2014.