PESHAWAR, Aug 9: No legal proceedings could take place in the Peshawar High Court on Thursday as the federal government failed to issue a notification for the appointment of an acting chief justice in place of Chief Justice Tariq Pervez Khan who has been made acting governor of the province.

Legal circles said that it was for the first time that the high court was without a chief justice which was quite unusual.

“The notification for the appointment of acting chief justice will be issued in the evening,” federal Law Secretary Justice (retd) Mansoor Ahmad told Dawn from Islamabad on Thursday afternoon. He declined to comment on why the high court was kept without a chief justice.

Cases were fixed before a two-member bench comprising Justice Dost Mohammad Khan and Justice Saleem Khan on Thursday, but the bench could not assemble to hear the cases.

“Under Article 192 of the Constitution, there is no concept of a high court without a chief justice,” said Abdul Lateef Afridi, President of the Peshawar High Court Bar Association.

He said it was a big lapse on the part of the federal law ministry. “The ministry should have issued an order for the appointment of the acting chief justice along with the appointment of the acting governor,” he added.

Justice Tariq Pervez Khan was appointed as acting governor on Wednesday after NWFP Governor Ali Mohammad Jan Aurakzai went to Kabul to attend the Pakistan-Afghan grand jirga.

Interestingly, an official handout was issued on Wednesday evening wherein it was mentioned that Justice Shahjehan Khan Yousafzai, the senior-most judge of the high court after the chief justice, had taken oath as acting chief justice. The handout was issued from the Governor’s House without verifying the fact that no oath-taking ceremony for the acting chief justice had taken place.

The Cause List of cases issued for Friday also mentioned the words “subject to the notification of acting chief justice”. And in case the required notification was not issued, cases will not be heard on Friday as well.

The Article 192 (1) states: “A high court shall consist of a chief justice and so many other judges as may be determined by law or, until so determined, as may be fixed by the President.