QUETTA: Balochistan High Court Bar Association President Shah Mohammad Jatoi has demanded that recruitment in the judiciary be made on the basis of zonal quota instead of open merit.

Speaking at a press conference along with BHCBA General Secretary Nadir Chalgari and other lawyers here on Sunday after a meeting of the association, he said a resolution adopted at the meeting demanded that the posts of civil judge, judicial magistrate and Qazi be filled on the basis of zonal quota as envisaged in the 1991 recruitment policy.

He said the recruitment on open merit would increase the sense of deprivation among the lawyers belonging to rural areas of Balochistan.

Mr Jatoi demanded that the advertisement published in newspapers for the posts of additional session judges, judicial magistrates, civil judges and Qazis be withdrawn and the posts re-advertised in accordance with the 1991 policy.

He said there should be a criterion for age limit and experience in the advertisement, adding that the candidate applying for the post of civil judge, judicial magistrate or Qazi must have an experience of at least two years and obtain a fitness certificate from the bar council concerned.

Mr Jatoi warned that if their demands were not meet, the lawyer community would strongly protest over it and chalk out a future line of action in consultations with the Pakistan Bar Council and the Supreme Court Bar Association.

Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2017