Govt wants to paralyse judiciary: CJP

LAHORE: Chief Justice of Pakistan on Saturday expressed dismay over the federal government’s inability to increase the number of judges at the Islamabad High Court.

A two-member bench headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar was hearing a case regarding shortage of judges at the IHC at Lahore Registry. Justice Ijazul Ahsan was the other judge on the bench. Additional Attorney General Ishtiaq AS Khan was present.

Chief Justice rebuked the additional attorney general and observed that the government wanted to paralyze judiciary. “I had written a letter to the federal government during the tenure of interim set-up but no progress has been made so far,” he said and pointed out that only four judges were presently working at the IHC and were unable to cope with a huge burden of cases.

The CJP had recommended increasing the number of judges from seven to ten in the IHC. Replying to a court query, AAG Ishtiaq A Khan said a law was drafted in the light of the CJP’s recommendations but the opposition parties declined to support or vote in favour of the bill in the National Assembly. He said the government also pondered to increase number of judges through presidential ordinance but a constitutional bar stopped it from doing so. Under Article 89 of the Constitution, the president was barred to issue an ordinance while the National Assembly or the Senate was in session, he added. Khan pointed out that the IHC was working with four judges because three seats were lying vacant. He requested the CJP to fill the three seats at once so that the IHC could start working with its full sanctioned strength of seven judges. He said it would lessen the burden over judges presently working in the IHC. The CJP also heads the judicial commission for the appointment of judges in high and supreme courts.

At this, the CJP remarked he might ask the SC registrar to seek explanation from the government or SC itself would take a suo motu action. He asked the federal law officer to take up the issue with the federal government and come up with some viable solution.

JJVL Case: The supreme court on Saturday allowed resumption of the Jamshoro Joint Venture Limited (JJVL), a private-sector gas processing plant, from Dec 31 after a chartered accountant firm told it that the execution of an agreement between the company and the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) had been started.

A representative of M/s A.F Ferguson, the chartered accountant firm, stated before the two-judge bench that the JJVL had paid Rs 600 million to the SSGS out of its liability worth Rs1.5 billion. He said the remaining amount would be paid by the second month of 2019.

Advocate Khwaja Ahmad Tariq Rahim, the counsel of the joint venture, asked the court to allow functioning of the plant. He pointed out that over 70,000 ton Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) had been imported by Pakistan after the closure of the JJVL.

On the previous hearing, Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar had ordered Iqbal Z. Ahmad of the JJVL to pay Rs 1.5 billion to the SSGC as admitted liability. The chief justice had asked Ahmad to pay the nation’s money if he wanted to get his plant restored.

The chief justice had reminded Ahmad that he had been earning billions of rupees under the garb of stay orders obtained years ago. The CJP had observed that the court would not pass any order contrary to national interests.

Public interest cases: Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar, who is due to retire on January16, on Saturday said the supreme court had disposed of 107,000 cases of public interest during his stint in office. He said it was his constitutional obligation to serve the people of Pakistan and he tried his level best. He pointed out that he tried to set an example by taking action against his relatives as well. “I want to dispel the impression that decisions are taken on the basis of favoritism or nepotism.”