ISLAMABAD, Nov 26: The Islamabad High Court restrained on Monday two former additional judges from releasing detailed judgments on short orders they had pronounced before the expiry of their term in office.

In letters addressed to former Justices Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui and Noorul Haq N. Qureshi, IHC Registrar Niaz Mohammad Khan referred to a judgment reported by the Supreme Court Monthly Review of 1997 titled ‘the state versus Asif Adil’ and informed them that “no short order/detailed reasons for the short order (if written) can be issued, written or signed after your honours have ceased to be additional judges of this court”.

The letter said: “As per office note there are numbers of cases in which decisions have been announced but either short order, detailed reasons or both have not been written till Nov 20, 2012, the date on which the term of your honours as additional judges of this court has expired.”

The registrar requested the judges to return all cases without adding any short order or detailed reasons not written till Nov 20.

According to an IHC official, the two judges had not issued detailed judgments on about 600 petitions, including the cases like fuel price adjustment, promotion of bureaucrats in BPS-20 and BPS-21, repatriation of sessions’ judges and other matters relating to service of government officials.

On Oct 22, the Judicial Commission of Pakistan had recommended the permanent appointment of additional judge Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui and a six-month extension to additional judge Noorul Haq N. Qureshi and on Nov 6 the Parliamentary Committee on Judges’ Appointment endorsed its recommendations.

The law ministry, however, did not issue a notification about the appointment of the two judges and the matter is pending before the Supreme Court for adjudication.