ISLAMABAD, Sept 14 President Asif Ali Zardari appointed 12 additional judges in the Lahore High Court on Monday - the second phase of inductions in the superior judiciary.
On Sept 5, two judges were elevated to the Supreme Court and 11 additional judges were appointed in Peshawar and Balochistan high courts.
Initially, the list for LHC judges comprised 35 individuals but the number was brought down to 15 by Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry when it was sent to him for concurrence.
The executive further squeezed the list to 12 after a thorough scrutiny.
The spokesperson for the president, Farhatullah Babar, said that the appointments were made by the president on the advice of the prime minister and on the recommendation of the chief justice.
As a consequence of the July 31 Supreme Court judgment, the president had unseated 34 judges from the LHC for being appointed on the advice of former chief justice Abdul Hameed Dogar.
Seven practising lawyers from Lahore - Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Sheikh Najam ul Hassan, Mr Manzoor Ahmad Malik, Mr Asad Munir, Mr Ijaz ul Ahsan, Hafiz Abdul Rehman Ansari and Mr Tariq Javaid -and two lawyers from Rawalpindi - Sardar Tariq Masood and Mr Nasir Saeed Sheikh - and three district and sessions judges - Mr Mansoor Akbar Kokab, Khawaja Imtiaz Ahmad and Mr Sagheer Ahmad Qadri - have been appointed as additional judges in the LHC for one year.
According to a source privy to the development, the names of Mr Abdul Manan, Mr Ashiq Hussain and Mr Amjad Indrabi had been dropped on adverse intelligence reports and health reasons.
According to the principle laid down in the 1996 Al Jihad Trust case, the offices of chief justice or judges should not remain vacant indefinitely because it could impair independence of judiciary and that meaningful consultation between the chief justice and the president was binding for the appointment of judges. The verdict also asked to give reasons by the executive in case it did not approve the recommendation of the chief justice.
According to a legal observer, those who had been picked as judges generally enjoyed a good reputation.
Syed Mansoor Ali Shah is a lawyer who represented the World Wide Fund for Nature before the Supreme Court recently in a case against the now scrapped new Murree project.
Hafiz Abdul Rehman Ansari, a lawyer, had served as vice chairman of the Pakistan Bar Council and remained active during the lawyers' movement.
Nasir Saeed Sheikh had resigned as the deputy attorney general at the height of the lawyers' struggle.
Sardar Tariq Masood is a well-known lawyer from Rawalpindi and is a younger brother of Advocate Sardar Ishaq.
Ijazul Ahsan is an associate of Advocate Hamid Khan.