ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Bar Council has stressed the need for determining the status of Chief Justice of Sindh High Court (SHC) Ahmed Ali Sheikh, recalling that according to the Aug 16 notification President Dr Arif Alvi has approved his appointment as an ad hoc judge of Supreme Court for one year.

A resolution adopted at a meeting of the PBC’s executive committee on Friday said Justice Ahmed had become a controversial personality after the issuance of the notification.

The meeting was presided over by the PBC chairman of executive committee, Pir Muhammad Masood Chishti.

On Aug 10, the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) had decided to take SHC CJ as ad-hoc judge for one year provided he agreed to the move.

Later, the president also approved the appointment of the SHC chief justice as the ad-hoc judge of the Supreme Court, requiring him to attend sittings of the Supreme Court for one year with effect from the date he takes oath of the office, but the SHC CJ refused to accept the offer.

The PBC executive committee said that the status of SHC CJ should be determined because as the ad-hoc judge of the top court of the country, he could not recommend to the JCP the name of any individual for elevation in the high court as additional judge.

Earlier, the Sindh Bar Council, in a meeting with Supreme Court Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial stressed the need for replacing the SHC CJ who, according to them, had the longest stay in the history of SHC as he had joined the SHC in 2009 and became the SHC CJ in 2017.

Meanwhile, the JCP proposed on Friday the elevation of five advocates as additional judges of the Balochistan High Court (BHC).

Those proposed for the elevation are: Iqbal Ahmed Kasi, Shaukat Ali Rahshani, Gul Hasan Tareen, Muhammad Aamir Nawaz Rana and Sardar Ahmed Haleemi.

Published in Dawn, June 11th, 2022