LAHORE, Sept 2: Eight newly-appointed judges of the Lahore High Court will be sworn in on Wednesday under the 1973 Constitution — for the first time since May 1999.
The federal law secretary, Justice Nawaz Abbasi, on Tuesday issued an official notification of the appointment of eight judges, which had been approved by the president last month.
These additional judges have been appointed initially for a period of one year and their respective tenures would be confirmed following a review of their one-year performance. By virtue of the new appointments, the existing strength of LHC judges has risen to 45, which is still five short of the mandatory strength.
Mohammad Ghani, Chaudhry Muzamil Khan, Deputy Attorney General Sardar Mohammad Aslam, Sheikh Hakim Ali, Nasim Sabir and Punjab Additional Advocates General Bilal Khan, LHC Registrar Sheikh Abdur Rashid, Lahore District and Sessions Judge Mohammad Akram Baitu are the new incumbents. LHC Chief Justice Iftikhar Husain Chaudhry would administer oath to them on Wednesday in a committee room of the LHC.
It was on May 21, 1999, that the newly appointed judges of the LHC last took oath under the Constitution. Since then, all the appointments made in the LHC, on May 2, 2001, Sept 22, 2001 and March 3, 2002, were governed by the Provisional Constitutional Order.
The courtrooms have been renovated for the new judges and staff deputed for regular functioning of the courts.
Meanwhile, the Joint Action Committee of lawyers of the Pakistan Bar Council, Supreme Court Bar Association and Lahore High Court Bar Association has announced that it will boycott the oath-taking of eight judges of the Lahore High Court.
JAC members said that since the service of Chief Justice of Pakistan Sheikh Riaz Ahmad had become disputed after its three-year extension under the LFO, any recommendation made by him for the office of a judge to Gen Pervez Musharraf — who also had no constitutional mandate to hold the office of president — was illegal.
SCBA president Hamid Khan told Dawn on Tuesday that the decision to boycott the ceremony was part of the ongoing JAC campaign against the LFO. “The new incumbents can be considered validly recommended only if their appointment is regularised by the 1973 Constitution. In this case, these recommendations have been made by a CJ who is himself working under the LFO.”
He added that the new judges were not suffering from any inherent constitutional disqualification, yet their appointment must be validly recommended. He maintained that as long as Justice Sheikh was holding the office of CJ, the status of these judges would remain questionable. He said there was a precedent in the form of Judges Case when certain superior courts judges, appointed during 1994, had to quit their offices while the remaining were sworn in afresh as a result of a Supreme Court judgment.
When asked if the JAC members would plead their case before the new judges, Mr Khan said a decision in this regard would be made after a thorough consultation.
LHCBA president Hafiz Abdul Rehman Ansari also reiterated the JAC stance on new appointments, saying that they negated the lawyers’ demand for delaying them till the final decision on the fate of LFO.