LAHORE, Sept 25: The administration committee of the Lahore High Court has decided to terminate the services of two judicial officers and serve final show-cause notices for dismissal from service on another three on charges of corruption and breach of professional discipline.
The administration committee, which met here on Sept 23 with chief justice Iftikhar Husain Chaudhry in the chair, also decided to suspend four more judicial officers from service and initiate disciplinary proceedings against them on complaints of corruption and professional misconduct.
The judicial officers whose services were terminated are brothers and were made OSDs with the direction to report at the LHC. District and sessions judge Syed Mohammad Waqarul Hasan Shah Bokhari and additional district and sessions judge Syed Mohammad Iqtidarul Hasan Shah Bokhari were proceeded against for indiscipline and corruption, and were said to be found guilty during inquiry.
According to a press release issued here on Monday, the final show-cause notices were served on district and sessions judge Javed Nawaz Chaudhry, additional district and sessions judge Tahir Husain Kazmi and civil judge Rojhan Mian Qamrul Islam. They have also been made OSDs and directed to report at the LHC.
The meeting also decided to send district and sessions judge Rao Shafay Ali Khan on premature compulsory retirement on similar charges.
Regular inquiry on an identical allegation has also been initiated against additional district and sessions judges Malik Riaz Ahmad Khokhar and Hafeezullah Khan who are now serving as OSDs at the LHC.
The meeting censured civil judge Aamer Zia as ‘minor penalty’ after he remained an OSD.
The judicial officers placed under suspension include Ms Sarwat Mumtaz who has been serving as a section officer in the Punjab law department. Layyah senior civil judge Mohammad Hameed Pervaiz Khan and civil judges Sajid Mahmood Sheikh (Pindigheb) and Jamil Ahmad Shahzad (Rajanpur) have also been suspended from service for an inquiry into allegations of corruption and indiscipline.
PROMOTED: The committee also decided to promote with back-dated financial benefits to 13 judicial officers.
Arshad Javed Mir, joint secretary at the ministry of law, justice and human rights, has been given proforma promotion as a district and sessions judge. District and sessions judges Khalid Mahmood and Mohammad Khalid Shabbir, who are also heading anti-terrorism courts at Faisalabad and Rawalpindi, respectively, have also been given promotion along with Chaudhry Mohammad Din Basra who is serving at the LHC’s establishment department.
Additional district and sessions judges Qamar Ijaz (Sahiwal), Khalid Mahmood Ranjha (Rawalpindi), Mohammad Afzal Shad (Mianwali), Mohammad Afzal Zahid (Haroonabad), Ejaz Ahmad Buttar (Hafizabad) and Mahmoodul Hasan (Chiniot) and senior civil judges Bashir Ahmad Chaudhry (Muzaffargarh) and Chaudhry Ghulam Rasool (Sialkot) have also been allowed promotion.
According to the press release, civil judges Syed Ali Abbas (Lahore) and Mohammad Iqbal Goraya (Pakpattan) have been promoted as senior civil judges upgrading in BPS-18. Disciplinary proceedings against civil judge Chaudhry Shabbir Husain have been dropped.