ISLAMABAD: The lawyers’ bodies in the federal capital have urged the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) to appoint the senior most judge of Islamabad High Court (IHC) as its next chief justice.

Chief Justice Mohammad Anwar Khan Kasi is reaching the age of superannuation on Nov 27. Since the JCP removed the senior puisne judge of the IHC Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui last week, the lawyers of the federal capital have been expressing apprehensions that in order to fill the vacuum a judge from the Lahore High Court (LHC) might be appointed as the next chief justice of the IHC.

The Islamabad Bar Council (IBC) wrote to the JCP, Parliamentary Committee on Judges Appointment and Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar that in the light of the Al-Jihad Trust case judgment the senior puisne judge of the IHC may be appointed as the next chief justice of the high court.

Last week, the IBC passed a resolution requesting the JCP not to appoint any judge from any provincial high court as the IHC chief justice. The bar council, the regulatory body of the lawyers, demanded that the vacant posts of judges in the IHC should also be filled by members of the bar. In case the JCP appoints a lawyer from a province as the IHC judge, a suitable candidate from Islamabad bar may also be posted as judge to the high court of that particular province.

Fiaz Jandran, the IBC vice chairman, told Dawn that the bar council would resist the appointment of any outsider as the IHC chief justice and a request had been forwarded to the relevant quarters.

The Islamabad High Court Bar Association (IHCBA) on Oct 17 passed a resolution against the appointment of the IHC chief justice from any province, saying the post be filled from a suitable judge belonging to the federal capital.

At its general body meeting, the IHCBA also demanded the JCP consider the senior most judge of the IHC for the post of the chief justice.

The resolution said in the light of policies and decisions of the Supreme Court, the JCP should appoint a judge of the IHC as its chief justice in accordance with the principle of seniority.

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2018