Judicial appointments: Panel eyes improved eligibility formula

Committee decides to expedite process for amendment in judges appointment.

ISLAMABAD:

A parliamentary panel has again invited the representatives of lawyers next week in a bid to make the appointment procedure for superior court judges ‘transparent and effective’.

“We have formally decided to expedite the consultation process and finalise our recommendations for making the role of the eight-member parliamentary committee, as well as the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP), more effective in the superior court judges’ appointment,” subcommittee member Rafiq Rajwana told The Express Tribune.

Since August 2013, a three-member subcommittee headed by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Senator Farooq H Naek has been consulting bar representatives and retired judges to bring changes in the appointment process for judges.

The other two parliamentarians are also Supreme Court’s advocates Senator Rafiq Rajwana and Muhammad Bashir Ahmad Virk.



Another member of the parliamentary committee Haji Muhammad Adeel says that they are awaiting the sub-committee’s formulations on how the role of the constitutional committee can be more effective in the judges’ appointment process.

Expressing concern over the present procedure, Haji Adeel said that the committee could not play its role effectively due to the limited time of 14 days given for vetting after the meeting of the JCP. “We cannot even get a clearance report about a nominee from intelligence agencies in this short period,” he added.

Senior jurists believe that after the issuance of the top court’s May, 2011 judgment in the Muneer Bhatti case, the committee is becoming ineffective as compared to the JCP, adding that the latter remains dominant in the process of appointments. According to the judgment, “If the committee rejects the JCP’s proposed names, the high courts can set it [the committee decision] aside as has been done in the past.”

In this connection, the subcommittee has again invited newly elected Pakistan Bar Council vice chairman Muhammad Ramzan Chaudhry and Supreme Court Bar Association president Kamran Murtaza on February 26 for completing the consultation process.

Both the representatives of lawyers confirmed that they have received an invitation from the Senate’s secretary to attend a second meeting with the subcommittee members in next week.

The PBC vice-chairman says that they will reiterate their stance that lawyers are dissatisfied with the present judges’ procedure and that the role of parliamentary committee should be strengthened.

It is learnt that the parliamentary panel has also invited retired chief justices as well as judges and representatives of provincial bar associations for their recommendations.

On January 17, the committee convened its first meeting with SCBA president Kamran Murtaza. The meeting, chaired by former law minister Farooq H Naek, was also attended by Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) vice chairman Qulbi Hassan.

A representative of the PBC in the commission, Yasin Azad, told The Express Tribune that he was also invited by the parliamentary committee members to brief them about the judges’ appointment process but he had declined to hold the meeting because he was a member of JCP.

“I am also dissatisfied with the present process; therefore, I held a one-on-one meeting with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in this regard,” he said.

Azad believes that a constitutional amendment will be required to strengthen the role of the parliamentary committee.

The ex-president of SCBA said that he had suggested to the PM that the strength of the committee should either be increased to nine from eight or be reduced to seven or five so that whenever a conclusion is reached, it should be by majority and not a split decision.

The PBC submitted the draft of proposed amendments to rules 2, 3, 6 and 8 of the commission one year ago but justice (retd) Chaudhry had not taken action in this regard despite being chairman of the JCP.

Azad said that the superior bars have also urged him to take up the issue of JCP’s rules amendment before new chairman of the commission Tassaduq Hussain Jillani at the commission’s next meeting.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 23^rd, 2014.