LAHORE – The Punjab Bar Council (PbBC) on Thursday condemned the resolution of the Supreme Court’s (SC) full court reference calling for appointment of Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday and Justice Rehmat Hussain Jaffery as ad-hoc judges of the apex court, terming it nepotism.
“Appointment of Ramady for the second time on contract in the Supreme Court (SC) creates doubts in minds of people about integrity of the judiciary, giving a strong impression that favoritism is being followed at the SC,” PbBC Vice Chairman Lehrasib Khan Gondal said at a press conference. Gondal said that the legal fraternity has serious reservations about the resolution passed by the SC’s full court reference in favour of appointment of two judges.
“The SC has violated the procedure for ad-hoc judges appointment given in Article 182-A of the constitution by passing the resolution, which is now being seen as a pressure tactic,” the PbBC vice chairman said. He said that the appointments are also against the SC judgments in the Justice Sajjad Ali Shah and Al-Jihad Trust cases, which set standard procedures for appointment of judges.
Ad-hoc appointments promote favoritism, which has been discouraged by the SC, Gondal said. Referring to Article 182-A on ad-hoc judges, he said that the CJP alone can write directly to the president for appointment of an ad-hoc judge to meet extra burden of cases and there is no need of a full court resolution in this regard, he said.
The PbBC vice chairman said that the “resolution method” might weaken the judiciary because lawyers could not understand one thing that “Why Ramday is being appointed again and again”. He said that the policy of appointing ad-hoc judges is itself a bad policy and all judges should be permanent. If the SC needs more judges than the sanctioned strength of 17 owing to burden of cases then the CJP should ask the federal government and president to increase the strength of judges, the lawyer leader said.
Gondal said that such acts did not suit the judiciary especially when it has restricted the government to rehire retired bureaucrats on contract. The PbBC vice chairman said that lawyers could not stop the Supreme Court (SC) from showing liking for a judge but when it is a question of reappointment on contract after retirement, the procedure should be according to rules and regulations.
