ISLAMABAD, Jan 19: Postponement of a meeting of the Judicial Commission (JC) scheduled for Saturday indicates that the process of appointment of superior court judges has always been tedious and a source of friction.
Headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, the JC had to take a decision about confirming an additional judge of the Sindh High Court.
The meeting has been postponed till Jan 26. An apparent reason for the postponement is the inability of Law Minister Farooq H. Naek, Attorney General Irfan Qadir and representatives of the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) and the provincial bar councils to attend the meeting. But there seems to be more to it than what meets the eye.
On Friday the AG office had informed JC Secretary Dr Faqir Hussain, also registrar of the Supreme Court, that the AG would not attend the meeting because the commission had not been properly constituted in the absence of a PBC representative.
After the expiry of senior counsel Dr Khalid Ranjha’s two-year term, the PBC has not nominated any representative to the commission, on the basis of its Nov 7, 2012, resolution about deferring the nomination for the time being.
The deferment came in view of the growing realisation that PBC members’ participation in the commission proceedings was not meaningful as they were not consulted during the process of preparation of lists of nominations for the post of judges.
The PBC is of the view that any member of the commission should have the right to propose names for the appointment of judges. But, this needs an amendment to the rules that govern the proceedings of the JC.
No nomination to the JC would be made till the rules were framed, the PBC resolution said.
To convey the growing apprehensions of the PBC, its three-member delegation --- led by Vice-Chairman Akhtar Hussain --- had called on the chief justice last week.
But the delegation was told that an amendment to the rules required a review by the Supreme Court of its Oct-21, 2010, 17-judge short order that had evolved a new method of appointing superior court judges under Article 175-A of theConstitution through the 18th and 19th amendments, a source privy to the development told Dawn.
The 22-member PBC is meeting on Jan 22 to elect a vice-chairman to replace Akhtar Hussain. The meting may also ponder over the stiff stand the council had taken on its participation in the JC.
But, Chaudhry Ramzan, a senior member of the PBC, said that the meeting had no other agenda except election of vice-chairman. He agreed that the members would be briefed about last week’s meeting with the chief justice but added that a PBC committee would look into any decision, if made, in the light of the Nov-7, 2012 unanimous resolution.
“We are not obliged to honour any commitment made in the meeting if it goes contrary to what has been decided in the resolution,” Mr Ramzan insisted.
AG Irfan Qadir said that he would attend JC meeting on Jan 26 only if the PBC nominated its representative to the council.
The meetings of the JC are very important because they recommended names of superior court judges, the AG said. For the posts, he added, nominations should be made of best of the best and top notch people who were capable of understanding multiple and complex issues and amicably resolving them, he said.
Referring to the rules adopted by the JC to govern its proceedings, the AG said the rules violated the Constitution which always emphasised consensus-oriented resolution of issues.