MUZAFFARABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) government on Friday appointed all five judges of the High Court as judges of the Shariat Court in a belated compliance with the direction of the AJK Supreme Court.

Secretary law Idrees Abbasi informed the full bench of the apex court, comprising Chief Justice Mohammad Azam Khan, Justice Chaudhry Mohammad Ibrahim Zia and Justice Raja Saeed Akram,

about the compliance, by producing the relevant notification in the courtroom.

On Thursday, Mr Abbasi was summoned by the bench on an application by senior lawyer Raja Sajjad Ahmed, whereby he had sought contempt of court proceedings against the government functionaries concerned for disregarding the September 17, 2014 judgment about the Shariat Court.

Through that judgment, the apex court had set aside the appointments of the Shariat Court judges made since 1993.

The court had observed that there were no special features, qualification or distinction in the composition of the Shariat Court except for the mode of appointment of its judges which too was sole prerogative of the government and had no mention of the consultation with the chief justices. 

The Shariat Court, it may be recalled, was established in AJK in 1993 through an Act of the Legislative Assembly, to hear, in appeals, matters pertaining to family disputes, murder cases along with all other Islamic penal offences.

Govt takes step in compliance with the AJK Supreme Court judgment

The AJK High Court Chief Justice happens to be the Shariat Court CJ.

The apex court had also directed the AJK government to do requisite legislation for composition of the Shariat Court and in the meanwhile, immediately, appoint the HC judges as Shariat Court judges to avoid any vacuum and provide relief to the litigants.

On Thursday the secretary informed the bench, much to its anger, that the law department had forwarded a summary to the government for compliance with the apex court judgment on December 10, 2014, almost three months after its announcement.

On Friday, the law secretary presented a notification before the bench, which stated that the government had delegated the powers of Shariat Court judges to the HC judges.

However, the bench rejected the notification for being against its direction, following which a fresh notification was issued, stating that all five HC judges had been additionally appointed as Shariat Court judges, until induction of judges in the Shariat Court.

The bench directed the secretary to make urgent arrangements for the oath of the HC judges as Shariat Court judges so that they could start attending offices from Monday.

The secretary was also asked to submit objections as to why proceedings against him should not be initiated under section 45 of the interim Constitution Act, 1974, and section 3 of the Contempt of Court Act, 1993.

Published in Dawn February 14th , 2015

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