Pakistan Bar, SCBA reject three nominations for SC

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) and Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) president have strongly objected to the three nominations from Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial for their elevation to the Supreme Court while ignoring the principle of seniority.

At the same time, senior puisne judge Justice Qazi Faez Isa has also raised an objection over the inclusion of three judges’ names for their elevation, saying the names dropped once cannot be reconsidered. The reactions have come following the announcement of a meeting of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan convened for Monday to consider nominees for vacancies in the apex court.

Chief Justice of Pakistan has nominated Chief Justice Islamabad High Court (IHC) Justice Athar Minallah, two judges of Sindh High Court including Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi and Justice Shafi Siddiqui and Justice Shahid Waheed of Lahore High for their elevation to the Supreme Court of Pakistan to fill the five vacant posts of the apex court.

In reaction to the development, the Sindh Bar Council Vice Chairman Zulfiqar Ali Khan Jalbani, Vice Chairman Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) Hafeez-ur-Rehman Chaudhry, Supreme Court Bar Association President Muhammad Ahsan Bhoon and other members of the council appreciated the nomination of Justice Minallah for his elevation to the top court. They, however, expressed serious concerns and disapproved of the nominations of three junior judges for elevation including Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi and Justice Shafi Siddiqui from the Sindh High Court and Justice Shahid Waheed of Lahore High Court.

In a joint statement issued here, Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) and President Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) said that in the last meeting of the JCP, consensus could not be evolved and some members even voted against such nominations of junior judges of high courts for their elevation to the Supreme Court. They emphasised that such nominations would demoralise other judges of the high courts and would adversely affect their judicial work, adding that this very fact is predominantly against the principle of seniority as laid down in judges’ case.

“It is a consistent stance of the legal fraternity that the JCP should follow the principle of seniority and the practice and desire to pick and choose should be stopped for elevation to the apex court”, they said. They said if the commission again violated the seniority principle in the elevation of judges to the apex court, the legal fraternity will resist it with full force and zeal.

In its reaction, the Sindh Bar Council (SBC) and bar associations of the province expressed their dismay at the decision of the chief justice of Pakistan to nominate only two judges from Sindh for appointment in the Supreme Court instead of three vacancies that were created after the recent retirement of three judges of the apex court from the province.

The SBC also announced a boycott of court proceedings on October 24 (Monday) all over the province in protest against the nominations of less number of judges from Sindh for elevation to the apex court.

Adopting a resolution and addressing a press conference at the SBC, Pakistan Bar Council member Akhtar Hussain, SBC Vice Chairman Zulfiqar Ali Khan Jalbani and representatives of bar associations said that at the expense of judges from Sindh, the number of judges from Punjab in the Supreme Court would go up to eight. They said the Supreme Court was a federal body that enjoyed exclusive jurisdiction to adjudicate disputes between the provinces inter-se, and the provinces and the Federation. They said the chief justice had himself observed in the last judicial commission meeting the need for observing the informal provincial quotas and even ethnic balance within the court. They said the abandonment of that principle had created great and justifiable resentment within the smaller provinces.

They said the chief justice had once again nominated the same two judges for elevation to the apex court despite the fact they had not been approved for elevation in the July 28 judicial commission meeting as being an unjustifiable deviation from the seniority principle. They said that misuse of discretion shall create further controversy and acrimony and would harm the reputation of the judicial commission, the apex court and the individual judges concerned. They also criticised the out-of-turn nomination of a Lahore High Court judge for elevation to the Supreme Court.

The bar leaders said that it had been speculated that the attorney general and the law minister had been persuaded to review their previous position that the seniority principle should not be deviated from and rules must be framed to regulate the criteria for appointment of judges. They said that if this news of the abrupt U-turn of law minister and attorney general was correct, it would be shocking in the light of the chief justice’s statement on the eve of judicial year that both the members of the judicial commission had previously only voted against the CJP’s candidates as they wished to bargain their vote in exchange for relief in cases against the government but were denied such relief.

They said that if the chief justice’s statement on the votes of the government representatives in the judicial commission was accurate, the people of the country were justified in asking if any communication had taken place between the chief justice and government in this regard and whether this alleged U-turn on part of the government representatives was because they had now gained some expectation of judicial relief.

In a related development, Justice Qazi Faez Isa has written to the Chief Justice of Pakistan and chairman Judicial Commission of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial raising objection as to why the names which were not approved in the previous annual meeting of JCP have been included again.

The letter said that the names once dropped cannot be considered again as per law. It may be mentioned that the names of Justice Shahid Waheed of Lahore High Court, Justice Syed Hassan Azhar Rizvi of Sindh High Court and Justice Shafi Siddiqui have been included by CJP Umar Ata Bandial again for reconsideration in the meeting of JCP scheduled for October 25.

Of the four nominated judges, Justice Qazi Faez Isa had raised objections over three nominations.