This seat’s free: Candidates vying for G-B judges’ slots

Due process not followed: Bar Council.

ISLAMABAD: The Gilgit-Baltistan Bar Council has warned of resistance as they say due process is not being followed in the appointment at two key posts in the superior judiciary in the G-B Chief Court.

Sources say certain lobbies are actively campaigning for their candidates while the Chief Secretary Secretariat has formed an eight-member panel of lawyers and judges of the lower judiciary to elevate them to the Chief Court. Interviews have also been conducted by the secretariat. Some members of the province’s legislative assembly and the GB Council are also in the running for the two vacant slots.



Advocate Shakoor Khan, Vice President of the GB High Court Bar Council told The Express Tribune that the High Court Bar will resist any appointment made without following regulations. He added that there are no objections to two judges from the session court – who have been interviewed by the chief secretary’s office – but the Council has strong reservations over some lawyers being vetted for the vacant positions. Many experienced lawyers from the province, practising in the Lahore and Sindh High Courts, were not considered, he added.

G-B has two institutions of the superior judiciary including the Chief Court and the Supreme Appellate Court. The former holds the same status as the High Court in other provinces while the Supreme Appellate Court enjoys the same authority as the Supreme Court.

Chief Secretary G-B Younus Dagha said a summary has not been sent in this regard. “Rest assured that appointments in the judiciary will be made purely on merit and due procedure will be followed once it starts,” Dagha said.

Secretary Law Khalid Mehmood said the law secretariat plays no role in the appointment of the judges. However, he added that the chief secretary can generate the summary; he also admitted that some informal interviews have been conducted already. Unlike other parts of the country, there is no clear-cut law for the appointment of judges in G-B and prominent people are also considered for positions, he said.

Under the G-B Empowerment and Self Rule 2009, the provincial law department generates a summary for the chief secretary, and it is passed on to the prime minister’s secretariat via the Kashmir Affairs and G-B Division.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 3^rd, 2014.