The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday adjourned the hearing on a constitutional petition seeking opportunities for candidates belonging to the rural areas of Sindh to be appointed as judges in the apex courts.
A division bench headed by Justice Sajjad Ali Shah was hearing a constitutional petition moved by senior lawyer, Advocate Ghulam Mustafa Lakho, through his counsels, former advocate generals Raj Qureshi and Yousuf Laghari, seeking implementation on format regarding appointment of judges.
The petitioner submitted that there are deserving candidates and applicants of the rural areas of the province and other parts of the country, but they are being neglected as regards appointing them as judges in the SHC and other apex and lower courts.
He stated that a format is in place regarding appointment of judges, but it is not being implemented, resulting in lawyers and judges of the rural areas as well as women and minorities being deprived of chances for the said posts.
According to the format regarding the appointment of judges, the Supreme Court is bound to appoint eight judges from Punjab, five from Sindh, and one each from Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Similarly, Sindh and Balochistan high courts are bound to appoint 70 percent of the judges from the urban and 30 percent from the rural areas.
The plaintiff submitted that there is no proper system in place at the SHC for the appointment of judges belonging to the rural areas, adding that the judges appointed from the rural areas retire in two to three years, but those from the urban areas serve for over a decade.
Principal Secretaries of the President and the Sindh Governor, and the Federal and Sindh Law Secretaries were cited as respondents.
The plaintiff pleaded the court that the format regarding the appointment of judges of the Supreme Court and the SHC be implemented, and the deserving candidates of the rural areas be considered for the posts of judges in the apex courts.
