KARACHI, Feb 3: Parallel judiciary is being created in the garb of the proposed federal court, the Sindh High Court Bar Association president said on Thursday.
Addressing a full court reference on the retirment of Justice Wahid Bux Brohi in Chief Justice Saiyed Saeed Ashhad's courtroom, Advocate Akhtar Hussain said the apprehensions expressed by the Bar had been confirmed by the draft bill circulated for eliciting lawyers' opinion.
The federal court judges would be selected by the president in his discretion from a panel forwarded by the chief justice of Pakistan. Even Grade 21 officers serving in public organizations would be eligible for appointment and they would take oath under code of conduct issued by the president.
The SHCBA chief said if the government wanted to eliminate exploitation, promote social justice and expedite the disposal of cases, the only way out was to appoint more judges at various levels within the existing system. The proposed court clearly violates the Supreme Court judgments in a number of cases.
Recounting landmark judgments rendered by the retiring judge, he referred to his verdict that the Sindh Employees Social Security Institution Ordinance was a beneficial legislation and should be liberally interpreted to benefit the workers.
In the Nawaz Sharif case, he held that the offence of hijacking would be complete even without the physical presence of the hijacker aboard the aircraft. Special tribunals, he stressed, were already functioning and deciding matters under the statutes the proposed court was supposed to deal with.
Appeals from the tribunals were entertained by division benches of the high courts. No appeal from the federal court would lie in the high court and legal challenges to its decisions would be maintainable only in the Supreme Court. Mere appeal to the apex court could not confer judicial power on a forum and make it part of the judicial heirarchy, he said.
Paying tributes to the judge, Sindh Bar Council executive chairman, Abrar Hasan, recalled his judgment in favour of the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance, though, he said, it had become controversial after a Lahore High Court full bench decision.
He also referred to his ruling that the evidence of an accomplice was not admissible at all in cases of offences punishable with Hadd and Qisas. He recalled that Justice Brohi joined the judiciary in 1972 as ad hoc civil judge and magistrate. He appeared in the public service commission examination for judicial service and secured first position.
