ISLAMABAD, March 4: The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice to the attorney-general on the petitions of eight retired judges of the high court who were refused pension and other benefits as they did not serve the high court for five years.

The retired judges, who were all confirmed judges of the high court are seeking a direction to the government for amending the relevant rules to allow them pension benefits from the dates of their retirement.

The petitioners are; Justice Aqil Mirza (retired), Justice Abdul Hafeez Cheema (retired), Justice Syed Sharif Hussain Bokhari (retired), Justice Ghulam Sarwar (retired), Justice Rao Iqbal Ahmad Khan (retired), Justice Raja Mohammad Khurshid (retired), Justice Abdul Manan (retired) and Justice Munir Mughal (retired).

The Supreme Court also took up the appeal of the federal government against a Sindh High Court decision in favour of a retired judge of the Sindh High Court, the late Justice Ahmad Ali U. Qureshi.

The SHC had accepted the petition of the late judge who was also denied pension rights. There was nobody to defend the SHC judgment as the petitioner had died and his legal heirs were not interested in the case.

Hafiz S. A. Rehman, Deputy Attorney-General, justified the law denying pension and other benefits to those retired judges who had not completed five years’ service.

Syed Sharif Bokhari, one of the petitioners, argued that the petitions filed directly in the Supreme Court were competent as they raised a matter of public importance.

He said irrespective of the length of service as judges of the high court, the petitioners were entitled to pensions and other benefits.

He argued that when a judge was confirmed, he was entitled to all the benefits which were available under the law and could not be discriminated on the ground that his length of service was not five years.

He contended the Constitution put an embargo on the legal practice of high court judges in their respective high courts on the ground that they were confirmed judges of the high court, but at the same time they were not given pension benefits. “This has created discrimination which is not countenanced by Article 25 of the Constitution.”

The court after hearing Syed Sharif Bokhari issued notice to the attorney-general and fixed March 17 as next date of hearing.