ISLAMABAD – The Supreme Court on Monday delayed operation of its verdict until April 11 in which it had overturned the Parliamentary Committee’s (PC) decision of rejecting one-year extension to six additional judges of the Lahore and Sindh High Courts recommended by the Judicial Commission of Pakistan, directing the federal government to issue a notification to give them one-year extension. A four-member bench of Justice Mahmood Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui, Justice Jawwad S Khawaja, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Tariq Parvez was hearing a review petition filed by the federal government seeking review of the court’s March 4 verdict overturning the PC’s decision.
The court delayed operation of its judgment, particularly to the extent of notification for the judges’ extension, as it would examine on April 11 the powers of parliamentary committee, a senior lawyer told Pakistan Today.
At the onset of proceedings, Deputy Attorney General KK Agha informed the court that although he had contested the main petition against the PC’s decision in the case for the federal government, he now had some personal engagements and was unable to contest the case for the government. He said the government wanted to engage Wasim Sajjad to contest the review petition, who had represented the federation in the 18th Amendment case. However, Makhdoom Ali Khan, lawyer for Munir Hussain Bhatti and Kamran Murtaza, who challenged the PC’s decision, objected. The court then rejected the federation’s request, with Justice Jawwad S Khawaja observing that the federation did not seem serious in the case.
