Gandapur: A PHC judge who wrote the preface of judiciary’s struggle

PESHAWAR: Justice (R) Javed Nawaz Gandapur has to his credit the honour to be one of the only two judges of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) who refused to take oath under the first Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) of General (R) Pervez Musharraf in year 2000.

The other judge who turned down the government’s offer to become a ‘PCO’ judge was Justice (R) Azam Khan who had only six-month time left to his retirement. But Justice (R) Nawaz had to sacrifice his brilliant career to uphold his principled stance as he had another five years to serve as the PHC judge. Had he been elevated to the Supreme Court during this time, he would have got another three-year extension in service.

Basically hailing from Dera Ismail Khan, Justice Javed was born in Mansehra on February 17, 1943 owing to the posting of his father in the district. His father Sardar Ahmad Nawaz was a divisional forest officer.

He got early education in Burn Hall School, Abbottabad but took admission in Government High School Abbottabad when he was in ninth grade. Deposed judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza and former NWFP chief secretary, Abdullah, were his classmates at the government-run school. He got certificate in Faculty of Arts from Government College Abbottabad and a Bachelor’s degree from Government College Dera Ismail Khan as his father was posted to his hometown at that time.

Justice (R) Nawaz got LLB degree from Law College, Lahore. He could not complete his Master’s in Administration after he got a rewarding job as sales officers in an international company, Packages Ltd, in 1966.

“It was a lucrative job. I was paid Rs600 salary coupled with Rs375 as car allowance while the government used to pay only Rs450 to fresh CSP officers,” he recalled during a chat with The News.

He quit the job after he qualified the PSC examination for judicial officers in 1970. Only five officers from the NWFP could pass the

examination, including Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza, former federal secretary law Aziz Akhtar Chughtai, former chairman, Banking Tribunal Shamsul Qamar Safi and Behram Khan Tariq and Justice Nawaz.

His first posting was in Abbottabad in 1973 as civil judge. Later, he was transferred to Mansehra, wherefrom he was elevated to senior civil judge with his posting in Kohat. In 1980, he was made additional registrar of the PHC but the same year he was assigned the duties of additional district and sessions judge of Peshawar.

In 1981, Justice Javed was promoted to the rank of district and sessions judge and posted in Kohat. In 1982, he was given additional charge of special judge, Anti-Corruption and Presiding officer, Labour Court.

“However, I was transferred to Chitral as DSJ after I refused to follow the diktats of former NWFP governor Fazle Haq. He wanted me to do something illegal which I refused,” the retired justice recalled.

In 1985, Justice Javed was again sent to Peshawar as special judge of Customs, Taxation and Anti-Smuggling (NWFP). He was given additional charge of special judge Anti-Corruption Federal Government for NWFP and chairman, Drug Court.

“Again, I had to bear the brunt of the then federal law minister, Syed Iftikhar Gilani, and was made an officer on special duty as he also wanted me to do something which I considered illegal,” he said.

This time, he was sent to the now-defunct Services and General Administration Department. The jurist had to perform as finance director in 1990 when the then Sarhad Development Authority chairman acquired his services.

“The same year I was appointed NWFP law secretary but again made an OSD after I developed differences with the then chief minister Mir Afzal Khan,” he added. However, within a couple of days he was directed to hold the office of presiding officer of Special Court for Offences in Banks while after a month he was made chairman of the Banking Tribunal (NWFP).

At the age of 50 Justice Javed was elevated to the post of the additional judge of the PHC on June 6, 1994, where he performed his duties till year 2000 when he was shown the door due to his refusal to become a PCO judge.

However, in July 2000, the government re-hired his services as chairman of the Implementation Tribunal for Newspapers Employees. The jurist is known for his bold decisions in favour of journalists during his service at the implementation tribunal. He distributed over Rs1.5 million to the employees of a Peshawar-based English-language daily after getting the newspaper’s outstanding amount against the government in terms of advertisements.

Justice Javed also said he had succeeded in getting appointment letters for journalists from their respective owners, who had earlier nothing in black and white about their service.

In 2005, he had to quit the job after the government did not extend his service for another two years.

He is the only retired judge from the Frontier province who was put under house arrest for about 20 days and his residence in Hayatabad was declared a sub-jail in the wake of emergency-cum-martial law of November 3, 2007.