November 13, 2007	Tuesday	Ziqa’ad 02, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Nov 12: Attorney General Malik Mohammad Qayyum has said deposed judges of superior courts will get pension and other privileges. Talking to journalists here on Monday, he claimed that technically the judges who had not taken oath under the Provisional Constitution Order did not qualify for pension and other privileges but the government would enact a law to remove the technical hitch.

Answering a question, he said there was no plan to request the Supreme Court to vacate a stay on notification of the official result of the presidential election. “We want the court to decide the case.”

He said that even if the petitioners in the case did not appear in the court, the respondent side would present its viewpoint and request the court to decide it. He said that constitution of an eleven-member bench for hearing the case was not essential and a smaller bench could take up the petitions.

He said he believed lawyers would start appearing before benches after courts would start pronouncing ex parte judgments.

Mr Qayyum said it had to be seen what the status of emergency was. He said President Gen Pervez Musharraf had sent a reference against Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry to the Supreme Judicial Council under relevant constitutional provisions. The court set aside the reference and did not let the SJC hear it.

He claimed that the decision to reinstate the Chief Justice was so flawed that a detailed judgment had not been authored so far. The court, he alleged, had transgressed its authorities and powers.