May 26, 2003	Monday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 23,1424

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window).

ISLAMABAD, May 25: The office of federal law secretary is up for grab after the departure of Justice Mansoor Ahmad to take Pakistan’s seat on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and half a dozen candidates including a judge of the Supreme Court are in the race.

Sources told Dawn that five candidates were in the run for the post of federal law secretary, led by Justice Faqir Mohammad Khokhar. Justice Khokhar was appointed as judge of the Supreme Court after his two-year stint as federal law secretary.

Others in the run are Justice Nasim Sikander of Lahore High Court, Justice S. A. Sarwana of Sindh High Court, Justice Zafar Pasha (Rtd), and head of Federal Judicial Academy, Hasan Nawaz.

In the three-year tenure of military government, two federal secretaries were appointed and both were form Lahore High Court. Both of them took advantage of their close contact with the government and got out of turn promotions.

The lawyers community had objected to the appointment of Justice Faqir Khokhar to the Supreme Court in violation of the seniority rules laid down. His appointment was also challenged by the Supreme Court Bar Association.

Similarly, Justice Mansoor was appointed law secretary after serving as a additional judge of high court only for six months.

He was nominated for the international tribunal for four years. He, apart from drawing a salary of $1.2 million annually from the court, would continue getting privileges as judge of LHC.

And after four years, he would be entitled to two pensions as retired judge of LHC, and retired judge of International Court from where he would get $50,000 per year for the rest of his life.

The appointment is viewed in judicial circles as a blatant act of favouritism by the military government for sending one of its official to an international forum with his total judicial experience of six months.

His appointment is viewed as violation of Article 207 of the Constitution, which provides that a judge of the Supreme Court or high court shall not accept an office of profit in which his remuneration is increased.

A government source told Dawn that Justice Mansoor Ahmad’s only qualification for the post was that he happened to be a lawyer of a serving army general from Rawalpindi for some time.

Justice Mansoor managed to get an order from President Gen Pervez Musharraf that his family would continue enjoying the privileges of a high court judge, including official residence and other facilities, which costs the government over Rs30,000 per month in the form of utility bills.

Justice Mansoor is the second law secretary of the military government, who was rewarded after serving the regime. His predecessor, Justice Faqir Mohammad Khokhar, was appointed judge of the Supreme Court after serving two years as law secretary, even though he was at number 13 in the seniority list.

The sources said Justice Mansoor, at the receipt of information from the United Nations through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, got his name approved from President Musharraf, with the support of his former client.