KARACHI, Sept 17: Six additional judges of the Sindh High Court were administered the oath of office by Chief Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed on Monday.

The oath-taking ceremony was held at the SHC judges’ library and was attended by judges and advocates, including Bar representatives.

The judges are Arshad Siraj, a Karachi-based lawyer; federal government standing counsel Syed Mehmood Alam Rizvi; Sukkur-based former additional advocate-general Abdul Rehman Farooq Pirzada; Ghotki-based Sindh Bar Council member Abdul Rasheed Kalwar; District and Sessions Judge Zafar Ahmed Khan Sherwani and District and Sessions Judge Salman Ansari.

The president appointed the additional judges on September 15 for a period of one year. The induction of the new judges has raised the number of judges in the high court to its sanctioned strength of 28. Two more vacancies are likely this year on the retirement of Justices Rehmat Hussain Jaferi and Mohammad Moosa K. Leghari.

SHCBA: The Sindh High Court should be enhanced to 35 judges, SHC Bar Association President Abrar Hasan demanded.

Addressing a press conference, he said three judges each were required for the circuit benches at Hyderabad, Sukkur and Larkana. Twenty-six judges would thus be available at the principal seat, where at least six division benches were needed to dispose of cases in addition to single judges. Welcoming appointment of six additional judges to raise the number of judges to the sanctioned strength of 28, he said the volume of work had greatly increased and there was shortage of judges to dispose it of.

The SHCBA president also welcomed the meeting between the president’s chief of staff and the chief justice inasmuch as it indicated the executive’s willingness to cooperate with the judiciary. The principle of trichotomy of powers underlying the Constitution called for close cooperation between the legislature, the executive and the judiciary to run the affairs of the state. The appointment of serving and retired Supreme Court judges as zakat council chairman and federal law secretary also augured well for amiable relations between the two organs of the state, he added.

Meanwhile, the Sindh Bar Council’s Vice Chairman, Mohammad Amin Lakhani, and its members on Monday congratulated the newly appointed judges.

They expressed the hope that the judges would uphold the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary.