LAHORE, June 11: Some senior lawyers have branded the government’s plan to raise the number of Supreme Court judges from 16 to 29 as politically motivated that will not serve any useful purpose.

Those who expressed this opinion included former Supreme Court Bar Association presidents Abid Hasan Minto and Akram Sheikh and senior lawyer Syed Zafar Ali Shah.

Mr Minto said the increase in the number of apex court judges would not be acceptable to the lawyers’ community.

He said on the one hand the government claimed that the country was facing a serious financial crunch, but on the other it was going to raise the number of apex court judges to a level that even countries like the United States and India were left behind. He said it was a move to retain the PCO judges, who were not acceptable to most of the parties. The finance minister’s plan, Mr Minto said, had exposed the hollowness of PPP government’s consistent argument that the deposed judges could not be reinstated without a constitutional amendment.

He said now they would be restored through an amendment to an act that regulates the number of judges, the government would be contradicting its own earlier stand on the subject.

In his opinion the move would not be acceptable to the lawyers or democratic parties.

Advocate Akram Sheikh said a fixed number of judges furnished guarantee for structural independence of the judiciary. If the number of judges could be changed so conveniently it would render the institution of judiciary as "pliable" because if the government finds majority of judges pitched against it on any issue, it would reduce its strength. Similarly, it could increase the number of judges for any particular objective, he said.

Akram Sheikh said he did not think the move would be acceptable to the lawyers' community.

Advocate Syed Zafar Ali Shah said the government planned to raise the number of Supreme Court judges for its own interest, not the interest of the common man. He said if the government wanted to provide expeditious justice to the people it should reform the lower judiciary.

He said the number of judges could be increased only through an amendment to the act which dealt with the number of judges. But, he said, the appointment would be made according to the package prepared by the PPP leadership.

In his opinion the move would not satisfy the lawyers’ community and many political parties.