ISLAMABAD: Chief Jus­tice of Pakistan (CJP) Anwar Zaheer Jamali said on Wed­nesday that the Sup­reme Court did not take up matters to settle personal scores, rather the objective was to ensure merit-based appointments in every institution.

“Things cannot improve until merit is fully adhered to,” the chief justice observed. He was heading a three-judge Supreme Court bench that had taken up a matter relating to the appointment of the Federal Services Tribunal (FST) chairman.

On Oct 16, the court had asked the government to consider de-notifying FST Chairman Sheikh Ahmad Farooq and its other eleven members.

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The 12-member FST is a judicial forum that redresses civil servants’ service-related grievances.

The court had declared the FST’s structure illegal on the grounds that it was set up in contravention of the observation made in a Jan 1, 2013, judgment of the Supreme Court in the Sheikh Riazul Haq case. The judgment required that the appointment of the FST chairman, as well as its members, be made in consultation with the CJP.

In the Sheikh Riazul Haq judgment, a three-judge Supreme Court bench, headed by then-Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, had held the functions of the service tribunal to be a ‘judicial function’ in exercise of ‘judicial powers’ conferred upon it by the legislature. Therefore, FST enjoys the status of a ‘court’ and is required to be separated from the executive in terms of Article 175(3) of the Constitution.

When the case was taken up on Wednesday, Attorney General Salman Aslam Butt told the court that the government had de-notified the current chairman on Nov 2 and the process of filling the vacancy would be completed in two weeks. The question of de-notifying the other 11 members of the FST would be considered by the government after the new FST chairman assumes office.

Before dictating the brief order, Chief Justice took pains to clarify that the court had no personal grudge or animosity towards any institution or individual.

The proceedings of the current case, he observed, were not just about securing the removal of the current FST chairman, but was meant to ensure that merit-based appointments, made strictly in accordance with the law.

The bench then decided to refer a decision on the fate of the other 11 members of the tribunal to a larger bench, which the court would constitute to take up a similar matter relating to the federal government’s appeal against a Sindh High Court order regarding the appointment of a Drug Court chairman.

The observation made by the chief justice seemed to be a logical continuation of the remarks he had made before the Senate on Tuesday, when he explained the need for occasional judicial interference in certain matters.

“While we recognise that implementation is primarily an executive function, it becomes a matter of judicial consideration when rights are denied or violated, at which point the judiciary is compelled to order administrative reforms,” the CJP had said.

Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2015

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