LAHORE: Senior PPP leader and former Supreme Court Bar Association president, Aitzaz Ahsen, has expressed his utmost confidence in the new process to appoint judges to the superior judiciary through a collective mechanism involving an all-powerful judicial commission working under the scrutiny of a parliamentary committee.
“It seems that the system got off to a good start with the nomination of Justice Ejaz Ahmad Chaudhry as the LHC chief justice,” Aitzaz said in an exclusive talk with Pakistan Today on Monday.
The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) is all set to approve the nomination of two Supreme Court and 40 high court judges after Eid holidays.
Some political and legal circles contend that the new process of induction and elevation would test the collective wisdom of the stakeholders, with a potential to spring surprises. However, Aitzaz was quite hopeful about the viability of the mechanism being adopted in accordance with the 18th Amendment.
Indications in the two meetings of the JCP held recently have shown that the new system could function smoothly under the supervision of chief justice of Pakistan without any conflict, Aitzaz said.
On the nomination of the Supreme Court judge replacing Justice Rahmat Hussain Jafferi, who is reaching the age of superannuation on November 22, Aitzaz said this would be a vacancy that in ordinary course should go to Sindh, because Justice Jafferi belonged to that province.
Once these issues are addressed on seniority basis and upon the overall choice by the chief justice of Pakistan and his colleagues, the process of selection would move smoothly with respect to other vacancies in high courts.
Commenting on the parliamentary committee, to be formulated after the government’s announcement of its nominations from the Senate and the National Assembly, Aitzaz said the composition of the committee showed that its weightage in the process would be appreciably reduced.
“The representation of Balochistan in the committee will also be essential,” he said, adding that after the naming of the LHC chief justice, the next important nomination would be that of the chief justice of the IHC.
“Most likely the position will go to a smaller province. However, this post will be of a great significance because all actions of the federal government will be challenged in the IHC,” he added.
