ISLAMABAD: The government and lawyers on Monday opposed the appointment of ad hoc and acting judges to hear PM Gilani’s appeal in contempt of court verdict against him, DawnNews reported.

The meeting of judicial commission to finalise the ad hoc and acting judges for the Supreme Court was ended without any decision following strict opposition from the government and lawyers.

The commission had met to finalise the names for ad hoc and acting judges for the apex court, needing to form the bench to hear appeal of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani against his conviction.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry on May 2 said that three judges who were part of the bench that heard the contempt case against the prime minister would not be available if a review petition came up.

Therefore, he added, two ad hoc judges and an additional judge would have to be appointed in the apex court to ensure that a nine-member bench heard the appeal.

The Pakistan Bar Council had also opposed to the move.

In a ruling that added more chaos than clarity to an already messy and murky scenario, the Supreme Court handed down a symbolic punishment lasting less than a minute to the prime minister on April 26, making him the first ever chief executive to be convicted for committing contempt for not writing a letter to the Swiss authorities to open graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.