QUETTA: Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) president Aman­ullah Kanrani has rejected the decision to appoint a retired judge of the Lahore High Court as a judge of the Supreme Court and demanded cancellation of his nomination and appointment of a senior judge of the high court on the vacant seat of apex court on the basis of merit.

Speaking at a press conference here on Tuesday, Mr Kanrani said that the move to appoint a retired judge as a judge of the Supreme Court violated the 1996 Al-Jehad case verdict in which the process of judges’ appointment was determined.

He said that retired Justice Qazi Mohammad Ameen was not qualified for the appointment as he neither had five-year experience as high court judge nor fulfilled other conditions for the appointment.

Mr Kanrani said that the executive committee of the SCBA had expressed concern over the decision to appoint the retired judge as a judge of the apex court.

He expressed the hope that Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa and members of the Judicial Council would reject the decision.

“Chief Justice Khosa is a talented and honest person, therefore, we expect that he will not allow any unconstitutional practice in the Supreme Court,” Mr Kanrani said.

He called for changes in the 19th Amendment in the Constitution to give lawyers and parliament a major role in appointment of judges of apex court.

“One-sided” appointments were being made without taking the lawyers fraternity into confidence, he said and added that the opinion of the bar councils and parliament should be taken into consideration by the Judicial Council over appointment of judges.

Mr Kanrani also dema­nded that the Pakistan Bar Council election sho­uld be conducted directly, instead of indirectly.

He also demanded that under Article 184-3 of the Constitution, an affected person should be given right of appeal against the decision of the Supreme Court in a suo motu case.

He said that the SCBA had decided to hold a seminar in April and invite parliamentarians to the event so that they could share their suggestions over amendments to the constitution.

The SCBA president said that the lawyers could not adopt flattering attitude to government and judiciary and that it was their responsibility to raise public issues at legal forums.

He said that the executive committee of the SCBA had issued a show-cause notice to its general secretary Azmatullah Chaudhry for violating discipline of the association and suspended the powers of the finance secretary to operate its bank accounts.

Published in Dawn, April 3rd, 2019