PESHAWAR, May 18 The Peshawar High Court is going to recall judicial officers posted against ex-cadre posts in provincial and federal departments, in the next few days.

Official sources said the high court had taken the decision in accordance with the new judicial policy recently launched by Pakistan's Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

It is learnt that the high court decided to recall judicial officers serving on deputation in federal and provincial departments, except for those attached with judicial functions like different tribunals and courts functioning under the government.

An officer in the high court said the judicial officers would receive orders in the next few days regarding their repatriation back to the court.

Two of the additional district and sessions judges serving in federal government departments -- Mr Sher Afzal Marwat, serving as director general of the Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation, and Mr Fakhr Zaman, a joint secretary in the housing ministry -- reported to the high court on Saturday.

Mr Zaman had also served as secretary to a former chief justice of the Peshawar High Court, Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, who is presently serving as a judge of the apex court.

It is learnt that 48 judicial officers serving in provincial departments will be affected by this decision. These officers have been functioning in different departments, including provincial law, home, finance and establishment departments, and the NWFP Assembly. Similarly, a number of officers have been functioning against ex-cadre posts in the federal government.

The issue was taken up for discussion by a meeting of the National Judicial Policy Committee presided over by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry last month.

That meeting had observed “It is noteworthy to mention here that many serving judicial officers of the subordinate judiciary are working against executive posts in Federal and Provincial departments on deputation.

“This practice is also against the principle of independence of judiciary and separation of judiciary from executive as provided under the Constitution of Pakistan and affirmed by the Supreme Court in Sharaf Faridi case.

“Even otherwise presently the subordinate judiciary is facing deficiency of judicial officers and the high courts are pressing hard for creation of additional posts of judicial officers to clear backlog; therefore, it is needed that all such officers should be repatriated to the respective high courts so that they be posted in field to utilise services for expeditious disposal of cases.”