MUZAFFARABAD: A writ petition challenging the appointment of an ad hoc judge in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Supreme Court was dismissed by the territory’s high court in limine while holding that it was the prerogative of the AJK chief justice to determine the necessity of ad hoc judge for which he was not answerable before any authority.

Barrister Sardar Adnan Nawaz had on Friday challenged the appointment of Younas Tahir as ad hoc judge of apex court made in Nov 2021 “till the pleasure of the CJ” for being “in violation of the mandatory provisions of the Constitution”.

Barrister Nawaz had contended that an ad hoc judge could be appointed for a specific period and for specific cases but the impugned notification did not provide any information, whatsoever, about the specific cases which the permanent judges could not decide owing to any legal infirmity.

According to him, the service of a judge could not be contingent with the “pleasure of the CJ” as it risked the independence of judiciary and raised questions about the impartiality of the ad-hoc judge concerned.

Dismissing his contentions, the HC bench comprising Chief Justice Sadaqat Hussain Raja, Justice Mian Arif Hussain and Justice Sardar Liaqat Hussain maintained that after the 13th amendment the ad hoc judge had been included in the definition of a judge with the same powers and jurisdiction as that of a permanent judge.

Regarding the specific duration of an ad hoc judge, the bench held that it was specifically employed in the Constitution that the ad hoc judge shall continue keeping in view the necessity of the position.

Of word “pleasure” used in the impugned notification, the bench maintained that it had to be read in light of furtherance of the word “necessity” appearing in the Constitution.

“In our view, the ‘pleasure’ of the CJ is a power to decide the necessity of an ad hoc judge on individualised evaluation guided by the Constitution, law and rules.”

It declared the petition “meritless” and dismissed it in limine.

Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2022