MUZAFFARABAD: The Azad Jammu Kashmir (AJK) Bar Council has called a meeting of presidents and members of all bar associations on Tuesday to discuss their reservations regarding the appointment of judges at the AJK Shariat Court.

“A majority of the legal fraternity believes that the notification for appointment of judges has been issued in contravention of the Supreme Court judgement,” AJK Bar Council vice chairman Manzoor Qadir told Dawn on Sunday.

On Friday, the AJK government appointed Muhammad Mushtaq Chaudhry, Sardar Mohammad Shahzad Khan and Mushtaq Ahmed Janjua as Shariat Court judges under the AJK Shariat Court (Amendment) Ordinance 2014.

The ordinance was issued after last September’s landmark judgment by the Supreme Court, whereby section 3 of the AJK Shariat Court Act 1993 was partly declared ultra vires of the Interim Constitution.

Resultantly, all appointments made by the Shariat Court judges from 1993 onwards were declared void, under this provision of law. The apex court had further directed the AJK government to do legislation for composition of the Shariat Court and in the meanwhile, immediately appoint High Court (HC) judges as Shariat Court judges to avoid a vacuum and provide relief to litigants.

On February 13 2015, all five judges of the HC were appointed by the government as judges of the Shariat Court in a belated compliance of the verdict.

In the meanwhile, the government promulgated an amended ordinance in accordance with the judgment, but could not get it enacted from the Legislative Assembly despite convening a session for this purpose early last week.

Of the three judges, Mr Chaudhry and Mr Khan held the same position at the time of annulment of all appointments in Shariat Court while Mr Janjua is a new entrant.

However, they could not take oath after HC CJ Ghulam Mustafa Mughal expressed reservations over the appointment of Mr Chaudhry, indicating that he would either not attend the swearing in ceremony or assign judicial work to him in the future.

It was after his warning the government issued an amendment late on Saturday night, whereby the name of Mr Chaudhry was omitted from the Friday’s notification. The other two would be administered oath by AJK President here on Monday.

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2015

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