ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Justice Noorul Haq N. Qureshi on Thursday allowed the Islamabad Bar Association (IBA) to become a party in a case in which 18 civil judges from the district’s judiciary have challenged mandatory examinations. for the confirmation of their services after they did not clear the first session of the exam.

The IHC granted the civil judges a stay in December last year, and the examinations were postponed for an indefinite period as a result.

The judges have all filed identical petitions in the high court, which granted them interim relief after the court suspended the examination schedule after the preliminary hearing. The IHC administration has not been able to conduct the examinations according to the schedule issued with the approval of the IHC chief justice.

In March this year, the IBA decided to become a party in the case, and filed an application with the IHC through its counsel Wajid Mughal, in this regard. The association was of the view that the judges who did not qualify through the departmental examinations should be removed and their vacant seats filled on merit.

The judges had previously filed a representation before the IHC administration, but Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui rejected their request to forego the September 2015 examinations.

In the petition filed with Mr Qureshi, the judges pleaded that the IHC administration should conduct the four sessions of the exam in two years rather than 10 months. The petition also said the judges were inducted in 2012, while the department examination rules were introduced in May 2015 and could not be applied to the petitioners retrospectively.

The schedule for the departmental examinations for confirmation was issued on Jun 23, 2015.

According to the schedule, the first departmental exams were to be conducted in August 2015, December 2015, March 2016 and July 2016.

The 18 civil judges who have challenged the mandatory examinations were inducted into the Islamabad judiciary in 2012. After their probationary period expired in September 2014, the IHC administration extended it for another two years, which is set to expire in September this year.

The judges were required to appear in examinations on criminal law, civil law, revenue law, accounts and Sharia law.

Published in Dawn, July 1st, 2016