KARACHI, Nov 22: The Sindh Bar Council has demanded that a lawyer should be eligible for appointment as civil judge or judicial magistrate only after a minimum of three years’ active practice.

According to a resolution adopted by the council, appointments and promotions should be made strictly on merit and the subordinate judiciary should be purged of incompetent and corrupt officers. Judicial vacancies should be filled promptly in the interest of justice and litigant public. The practice of delayed announcement of orders reserved after hearing of cases should be discontinued. The complaints filed by SBC representatives should be duly addressed. Case law cited by lawyers in their arguments should be mentioned and discussed in orders and judgments, the council said. It warned that public confidence in the judicial system was waning fast.

The meeting was presided over by SBC Vice-Chairman Asif Ali Soomro and attended by 21 members from across the province, including Khawaja Mansoor, Muhammad Ali Abbasi, Mahmoodul Hasan, Yousuf Moulvi, M. Nadeem Qureshi, M. Ayaz Soomro and Salahuddin Panhwar.