PESHAWAR: Four new additional judges of the Peshawar High Court on Monday took oath of their offices.

The development took the number of judges to 19 against the sanctioned strength of 20.

Chief Justice of the high court Mazhar Alam Miankhel administered the oath to the judges, including Qalander Ali Khan, Hadier Ali, Younas Taheem and Mohammad Ghazanfar Khan, during a special ceremony, where the judges, judicial officers, advocate general Abdul Lateef Yousafzai, deputy attorneys general Behlol Khattak, Manzoor Khalil and Kifayatullah Khan, other law officers and few senior lawyers were in attendance.

The Peshawar High Court Bar Association boycotted the ceremony with none of its office-bearers showing up.

It had opposed the appointment of three of the four judges, who were named by the Judicial Commission from among lawyers, insisting the three nominations were made in violation of merit.

Also in the day, lawyers boycotted high court proceedings.

Before appointment, Justice Qalander Ali Khan was a senior district and sessions judge, whereas the other three judges were from the bar.

Justice Qalander Ali was born on March 3, 1957. After doing graduation in law, he was appointed the civil judge in Jan 1983.

Later, he was promoted to the posts of senior civil judge, additional district and sessions judge, and district and sessions judge.

Bar association boycotts ceremony insisting three nominations weren’t on merit

Justice Qalander had served on several key judicial posts, including those of the high court registrar, chairman of the services tribunal and director of the office of federal ombudsman.

Justice Haider Ali was a leading human rights activist and an active member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

Born on June 6, 1964, he got the licence to practise law at the district courts in November 1989, that of the high court in 1999 and that of the Supreme Court in 2008.

He had served as the deputy prosecutor general and senior prosecutor in the National Accountability Bureau from 2001 to 2009. He had also served as the federal counsel from 1993 to 1996.

Justice Younas Taheem was born in Dera Ismail Khan on March 21, 1956. He did his LLB from Gomal University and began legal practice in 1982. He was given the high court practice licence in May 1987 and that of the Supreme Court in January 2012.

Justice Mohammad Ghazanfar Khan was born in Abbottabad on April 20, 1957. He’d got the licence to practice at lower courts in September 1982 and that of the high court in April 1992. He had also served as the additional advocate general.

Meanwhile, PHCBA secretary general Mohammad Ayaz Khan told reporters here that the lawyers’ protest against the latest high court appointments would continue.

“We’ll convene a special meeting on the matter on Tuesday (today), where presidents and general secretaries of all bar associations of the province will be in attendance,” he said.

Ayaz Khan said the association had decided to boycott courts on Monday, whereas the future course of action would be decided in Tuesday’s meeting.

He said the mechanism provided for the judges’ appointment was faulty and therefore, it should be changed.

“All powers have been vested in the Judicial Commission, which has not been following merit, whereas the powers of the Parliamentary Committee for appointment of judges have been curtailed,” he said.

On October 17, the Judicial Commission headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Nasirul Mulk had recommended to the parliamentary committee four names for the positions of the high court’s additional judges.

Published in Dawn, November 11th , 2014