News
Saturday, March 05, 2011
SC directs govt appoint judges rejected by PC* Court rejects parliamentary committee’s decision for not confirming extension to six high court judges
* Says committee’s decision was not in consonance with constitution
By Hasnaat Malik
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Friday set aside the parliamentary committee’ recommendations for rejection of one-year extension to six high court judges and directed the government to issue their appointment notification in accordance with the judicial commission’s recommendations.
In its short order, the court observed that the parliamentary committee’s decision was not in consonance with the constitution.
A four-member apex court bench, comprising Justice Mahmood Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui, Justice Jawwad S Khawaja, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Tariq Pervaiz, passed the directive while hearing constitutional petitions filed by the Sindh High Court Bar Association (SHCBA), Advocate Munir Hussain Bhatti and Kamran Murtaza against the federation and parliamentary committee, which rejected the judicial commission’s recommendations for extension in services of six judges. The parliamentary committee had denied extensions to four additional judges of the Lahore High Court namely Justice Muhammad Yawar Ali, Justice Mazahir Ali Akbar Naqvi, Justice Mamoon Rashid Sheikh and Justice Muhammad Farrakuh Irfan Khan on February 2, and two additional judges of the Sindh High Court (SHC) namely Justice Muhammad Tasneem and Justice Salman Hamid on February 22.
The committee had based its decision on the assessments of the chief justices concerned after which the said judges were left out for their professional and personal shortcomings.
The court had, on Thursday, observed that “the parliamentary committee has given importance to the chief justices’ (also members of the judicial commission) words on the matter but completely ignored the unanimous recommendations of the commission”.
During Friday’s hearing, counsel for the petitions, Makhdoom Ali Khan, contended that the judicial commission had primacy over the decision of the parliamentary committee or “a chief justice’s words”. He argued that the commission was the right forum to take decisions on cases of judges, adding that the parliamentary committee was not authorised to review qualification or ability of any judge. Sindh High Court Bar Association President, Anwar Mansoor Khan, and another petitioner also took a similar stance.
They requested the court to quash the recommendations of the parliamentary committee in respect of the six judges who had been denied extension by the committee.
The additional attorney general had contended that the committee could overrule the commission’s recommendations if they were justiciable.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk