PESHAWAR: A Peshawar High Court bench on Tuesday sought reply from the court’s registrar in two writ petitions challenging the recent appointment of 25 additional district and sessions judges (ADSJs) by the court.

The bench comprising Justice Ms Irshad Qaiser and Justice Syed Afsar Shah took up for preliminary hearing two writ petitions filed by candidates who could not qualify the examination and have challenged the appointments on different grounds.

One of the petitioners, Advocate Mian Sibghatullah Shah, contended that an advertisement had appeared on Aug 3, 2015, for appointments against 25 vacant posts of ADSJs. He stated that different conditions were mentioned for candidates who were qualified for appearing in the examinations conducted for the posts.

He stated that it was mentioned in the advertisement that passing marks in each written paper were 45 whereas 55 per cent marks were required in aggregate of all papers. He added it was clearly mentioned that no candidate should be summoned for interview unless he or she obtained the requisite marks.

He contended that several candidates who had either not obtained the required marks in a paper or failed to get the required percentage in aggregate were summoned for interviews by the selection committee. He claimed most of the appointed judges were not qualified for interview as they had either not received required percentage in aggregate or had not passed a paper in exam.

Published in Dawn, March 16th, 2016