The strength of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) will be reduced to three judges after the retirement of its senior-most judge on Wednesday. Justice Riaz Ahmad Khan is due to retire tomorrow.
The total strength of the capital’s high court should be seven, but due to shortage of judges, litigants are facing immense difficulties. There are over 13,000 cases pending in the court.
Islamabad High Court Bar Association President Mohsin Kayani has requested Chief Justice of Pakistan Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, who is also the chairman of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP), to initiate the process of appointing IHC judges. He also warned of protests if the names of the capital’s lawyers as IHC judges were not considered.
Kayani lamented that since the re-establishment of the court in 2010, no judge had been appointed from among the Islamabad Bar Association members. Currently, over a dozen law officers are performing duties in the high court as compared to only three judges.
The sources revealed to The Express Tribune that CJP Jillani had sought names from IHC Chief Justice Muhammad Anwar Kasi for the appointment of new judges. They said the appointment of judges had been postponed twice in the last two months.
According to the IHC Act 2010, the capital’s high court will comprise one chief justice and six judges and they would be appointed from all provinces including FATA. After the retirement of Justice Khan, the post of K-P judge will be vacant.
Earlier, CJP had summoned a meeting of the JCP on April 10 to discuss the appointment of two IHC judges. CJ Kasi had suggested four names for the appointment of two additional judges. Later, a three-member panel of the JCP’s sub-committee, headed by Justice Khan, was due to hold a meeting and to shortlist two names from the four nominees, however, the meeting was postponed at the eleventh hour.
Illegal appointments
Meanwhile former vice-president of IHC Bar Association Chaudhry Akram has moved the Supreme Court for early hearing of his petition, requesting the court to declare the appointments made in the high court illegal.
Through his counsel Arif Chaudhry, the petitioner also sought legal proceedings against all those involved in the appointments.
The matter regarding the alleged illegal appointments has not been fixed since February 6 and the applicant has submitted a number of applications for early hearing.
Earlier, in their reply the IHC administration had admitted before the Supreme Court that 19 out of 73 appointments were made by relaxing the rules.
“The 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 court officials said in their reply, a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 13th, 2014.
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