KARACHI: The Sindh High Court Chief Justice Ahmed Ali M. Shaikh and the representatives of the legal fraternity on Thursday paid tribute to Justice Munib Akhtar, who has been elevated to the Supreme Court.

Speaking to the participants in a full-court reference held at the SHC to bid farewell to Justice Akhtar, the chief justice said they had been working together in the high court since 2009, adding that the outgoing judge was not only a brilliant jurist but also a very good friend.

Highlighting some of the landmark judgments of Justice Akhtar during his tenure as an SHC judge, the chief justice said that he was a role model for the junior judges.

Justice Akhtar said he was grateful to the chief justice, other serving judges of the high court, retired colleagues, representatives of the legal fraternity, court staff and his family for extending their support to him, adding that he would not have achieved this without their help.

Bar irked by withdrawal of invite to SBC vice chairman

Apart from the Sindh Bar Council, leaders of the legal fraternity, including Karachi bar, Malir bar and Sindh High Court bar associations, also spoke on the occasion and paid tribute to Justice Akhtar. The full-court reference was attended by the SHC judges and a large number of lawyers.

However, Karachi Bar Association president Haider Imam Rizvi also drew the attention of the participants to the absence of the SBC vice chairman, adding that the vice chairman was the highest elected office among the lawyers of Sindh.

The KBA chief said he was told that the invitation of the SBC was withdrawn by the registrar on the ground that the council’s leadership had held a press conference against the elevation of Justice Akhtar to the apex court.

He said he and his colleagues could not recall a single precedent for such an act in the entire history of judicial references held at the SHC, adding that despite that regrettable act of discourtesy, they opted to attend the reference since the outgoing judge held the bar in great esteem.

He further said that in the past, whenever the bar criticised some aspects of judicial behaviour, it was always viewed in a constructive light and never allowed it to undermine the closeness of the bar’s relationship with the judiciary.

“It’s not necessary that the senior-most judge is invariably the most competent judge in the court. Nevertheless, the seniority principle is seen as a necessary safeguard against arbitrariness in appointments,” he said.

SBC vice chairman Salahuddin Gandapur received the invitation of the SHC on Wednesday morning to attend the full-court reference. However, in the afternoon an SHC official informed the bar that the invitation stood withdrawn as the SBC leadership had held a press conference against the elevation of Justice Akhtar to the apex court, he added.

The SBC leadership had held a press conference on Monday in which they said the elevation of Justice Akhtar — who was number four on the judges’ seniority list — by bypassing three other senior judges was in violation of the judgement handed down in the Al-Jihad Trust case.

Published in Dawn, May 4th, 2018