September 20, 2002	Friday	Rajab 12, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, Sept 19: The Supreme Court Bar Association, and other representative bodies of the lawyers, will not approach any court on any constitutional issue as the members of the bar were convinced that the judiciary in Pakistan had lost its independence, president of the SCBA said on Thursday.

Hamid Khan, president of SCBA, said that recent appointments in the judiciary were contrary to the Supreme Court’s Judges Case verdict.

“The bar is convinced that agitating any matter before the judiciary is an exercise in futility as the judiciary in Pakistan has ceased to be independent.”

The president of the SCBA, flanked by the Additional Secretary SCBA, Zaheer Qadri and President of Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi Bench Bar Association, Chaudhry Mohammad Ikram, said appointments of Lahore High Court chief justice and an ad-hoc judge of the SC, were a clear violation of the Judges Case.

The Judges Case, he said, was accepted by the bar which required that if any judge was bypassed, the reason would be recorded.

Hamid Khan said his association had challenged the appointment of junior judges to the Supreme Court which was not accepted. “A review petition against the SC judgment has been filed,” he added.

The president of SCBA said it was unfortunate that the judiciary itself was violating the judgment for which it confronted the executive of the time.

In 1996, when the Judges Case was delivered, he said the curse of ad-hoc appointment was abolished and two ad-hoc judges of the Supreme Court, were relieved. The practice has again been revived.

Hamid Khan, who apart from being the President of SCBA, is also elected member of Pakistan Bar Council, said that PCB was meeting in Islamabad on Sept 28 to discuss the Legal Framework Order.

The meeting has been convened to chalk out the future course of action by the legal fraternity against the mutilation of the Constitution by a military ruler.

The representatives of the lawyers throughout Pakistan fully supported the principle of seniority amongst the judges for appointment as chief justice of Pakistan, judge of the Supreme Court and chief justices of the high courts.

The lawyers’ representatives oppose appointment of ad-hoc judges in the Supreme Court, which is violative of the verdict in the Al Jehad Trust Case, better known as the Judges Case.

Due to certain press reports in the recent past, an erroneous impression has been created about the stand of the lawyers’ representatives regarding the principle of seniority amongst judges for appointment, he said.

Asked if there was any qualitative change in the judiciary after the Judges Case, he said there was some improvement, though all the appointments were not appreciable.

After the Judges Case, the executive’s role in judicial appointments had been reduced. The appointments in the last one year showed that the executive was again calling the shots, he observed.