Argues court’s chief justice can make any appointment and has unfettered powers. DESIGN: ANAM HALEEM
Submitting its reply regarding the 73 allegedly illegal appointments, the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) administration on Saturday admitted before the Supreme Court that it hired 19 individuals by relaxing the rules.
“Total strength of the high court is more than 400; therefore, 19 appointments made in relaxation of rules is not a big figure to be highlighted by anyone,” the reply said, a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune.
The top court on February 6 sought reply from the IHC’s registrar regarding the petition – filed by the IHC Bar Association’s former vice president Chaudhry Muhammad Akram – requesting the Supreme Court to declare the appointments illegal and initiate legal proceedings against all those involved in these appointments.
In response to the petition, the IHC’s registrar submitted a 21-page reply stating that the IHC chief justice was competent to make any appointment by relaxing the rules and the chief justice had unfettered powers under Rule 16 and 18 of the IHC Establishment (Condition and Service) Rules 2011.
“Therefore, the actions taken by him are quite lawful and cannot be challenged,” the reply argued.
Justifying the 73 appointments, it said that due to the pendency of cases, the numbers of judges were increased from 3 to 5 and the normal procedure for recruitment was not followed as it consumed couple of months and the judicial work was likely to suffer.
It contended that the present petition was filed with mala-fide intention to blackmail and scandalise the establishment and internal affairs of the high court.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 23rd, 2014.
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