'Judiciary is no longer a sacred cow', observes LHC

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday observing, "Judiciary is no longer a sacred cow", suspended a notification about premature retirement of Registrar LHC earlier allowed by Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah. Justice Farrukh Irfan Khan refused to hold in-camera proceedings and observed, "Whether a chief justice could not be accounted for even if an administrative order was against the law".
Justice Farrukh turning down request of Advocate General of Punjab (AGP) Shakilur Rehman Khan citing sensitivity and reputation of the institution involved in the case, observed that the courts were being run with the taxpayer money and added after promulgation of Article 10-A of the Constitution restriction could not be put on information.
The AGP also assailed the maintainability of the petition and argued that the matter was of administrative nature and pertained to powers of the chief justice. He said such matters could not be taken up by the court on judicial side.
AGP said there were other remedies available on administrative side including Administration Committee of the High Court to deal with such matters. The constitutional jurisdiction of the High Court could not be invoked against administrative power of the chief justice, he added.
Representing the petitioner, Azhar Siddique advocate argued that Registrar LHC Khurshid Anwar Rizvi, being a judicial officer, was not eligible to avail retirement under the High Court establishment rules. He also questioned the appointed of Rizvi, a district & sessions judge, as registrar of the high court.
He stated that Rizvi was a district & sessions judge and not a member of civil service of Pakistan and Provincial Civil Service (PMS) nor the Punjab Public Service Commission had been consulted by the LHC chief justice before posting of the respondent as registrar. He said the respondent was not a member of the High Court establishment but a member of district judiciary. Therefore, the respondent could not avail retirement and post-retirement benefits under the establishment rules of the high court, he added.
The lawyer argued that the appointment as well as the premature retirement of Rizvi had been made in violation of the establishment's rules. He said the job of Rizvi had not been absolved in the High Court establishment nor it can be done under the law. He submitted that the LHC chief justice on February 9, 2017 passed the impugned order, without jurisdiction, to sanction grant of Superior Executive Allowance of Rs 400,000 in favour of the registrar other than the salary. He asked the court to set aside the appointment notification of the respondent as registrar of the high court. Justice Farrukh Irfan Khan referred the matter to chief justice to form a larger bench for its disposal in accordance with the law.