ISLAMABAD, March 2: The government is considering to abandon the practice of appointing the sitting judges of high courts as federal law secretary and to revert to appointing retired judges for the post.

Official sources told Dawn that the second federal law secretary of the military government would soon leave the post to take an oath for four years as a member of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

They said the practice of appointing the sitting judges was creating problems for the judiciary, as after the appointment, they try to extract some personal benefit and the whole institution suffered in terms of reputation as a result.

This practice was in vogue till March 1996, but it was discontinued for some time after the pronouncement of a much orchestrated Judges Case. The military government again revived it by appointing Justice Fakir Mohammad Khokhar as federal law secretary. Mr Khokhar, who had only three-year service in the high court at the time of appointment, remained law secretary for two years.

After assuming the post, he was appointed as a judge of the SC, though his name was on serial number 13. The Bar challenged his appointment which upheld it.

Justice Mansoor Ahmad, the second law secretary, was appointed when he was not even a confirmed judge of the Lahore High Court and had worked only as an additional judge for less than a year. He was nominated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the post of a member of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda for four years.