ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) constituted a committee headed by Justice Babar Sattar to probe five judges and an additional registrar in connection with 103 illegal appointments made in sessions courts of Islamabad.

Of the five judges, two district and sessions judges have now retired while one is still working. Others to be investigated are an additional district and sessions judge and a senior civil judge.

A departmental inquiry into the 103 irregular appointments in the sessions courts of Islamabad was finalised in May this year and a report submitted to the Chief Justice of Islamabad High Court for a final decision.

According to the inquiry order available with Dawn, IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah appointed Justice Babar Sattar “to hold a regular inquiry against the following chairman and members of the Departmental Selection Committee of Session Division East, Islamabad, and Civil District East, Islamabad, into the matter of “illegalities/irregularities observed in appointment made in District Courts (East Division), Islamabad in the year 2012”.

The inquiry order named two former district and sessions judges (DSJs), Syed Kausar Abbas Zaidi and Atiqur Rehman, and incumbent district and sessions judge Wajid Ali, who is currently working as Judge of Special Court for Control of Narcotics Substances (CNS).

At the time of illegal appointments, former DSJ Syed Kausar Abbas Zaidi was the chairman of the Departmental Selection Committee (DSC) for appointments in sessions division (East) and former DSJ Atiqur Rehman and additional registrar Ali were the committee’s members.

The DSC for Civil District-East comprised its chairman, Additional District and Sessions Judge Abdul Ghafoor Kakar, and two members, Senior Civil Judge Mohammad Amir Aziz and Additional Registrar Imtiaz Ahmed.

The inquiry order, dated November 19, was issued by IHC Registrar Farhan Aziz Khawaja.

During audit of the IHC from 2015 to 2020, auditors found that an inquiry into the 103 irregular appointments had not been finalised despite a lapse of several years.

However, a meeting of the Departmental Accounts Committee (DAC) was informed that “a comprehensive inquiry has been completed and responsibility has been fixed. The inquiry report is lying with the Islamabad High Court for a final decision into the matter”.

The inquiry is related to appointments against 103 posts of readers, civil nazirs, accountants, record keepers and other clerical positions in the sessions court.

The posts were advertised in the national press and after initial scrutiny of the credentials of all candidates, 103 candidates appeared in a test in 2012. A number of petitioners challenged the appointment process for serious loopholes in the process.

For example, a petitioner pointed out that 19 people whose names were not even mentioned in the list of successful candidates had been appointed. They were not among 30,000 candidates who had applied for these posts.

Published in Dawn, December 4th, 2021