Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani has approved the summary of de-notifying the judges who had taken oath under the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) in pursuance of decision of the Chief Justice of Pakistan.
The affected PCO judges are: Justices Syed Shabbar Raza Rizvi, Hasnat Ahmed Khan, Syed Hamid Ali Shah and Syed Sajjad Hussain Shah of the Lahore High Court and Justice Ms Yasmeen Abbasey of the Sindh High Court and Justice Jehanzeb Rahim, judge of the Peshawar High Court.
In the wake of SC’s May 18 order, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Sunday approved the de notification.
On Friday, the apex court gave the government four more days to de-notify the dysfunctional superior court judges. The court had on May 18 ordered the government to de-notify these judges and later gave it till July 26 to do so.
A five-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany and Justice Amir Hani Muslim extended the deadline to August 9.
The Supreme Court had ruled that the dysfunctional judges had ceased to hold their offices after the passage of 18th and 19th Amendments.
It said the PCO 2007 read with Oath of (Judges) Order 2007 had already been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court through a July 31, 2009, order on a Sindh High Court Bar Association’s petition. “Thus no immunity is available to them,” it said.
The government, which is already wary of the apprehensions of yet another executive-judiciary row, assured the court that it would de-notify the dysfunctional judges.
PM House spokesperson said that the government respects the decision of the courts, its implementation would be assured by all means and the conspiracies to confront the institutions would be foiled.
According to the notification, these judges will be entitled for the service and pensioner benefit upto April 20, 2011 when Eighteenth Constitutional Amendment was passed.
The Prime Minister attaches great importance to the independence of judiciary. The designs of certain elements to pitch the institutions against each other will be foiled, he added.