Five member bench to take up Judges' service case next week

A five-member Bench of the Supreme Court will hear arguments for and against extension in superior courts Judges' tenure of service. To be headed by Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan, the Bench will include Justice Muhammad Nawaz Abbasi, Justice Faqir Muhammad Khokhar, Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan and Justice Tasadduq Hussain Jillani. Notices have already been issued to the Attorney General and the four Advocates-General of provinces to assist the Bench in determining the question raised in petitions by Habib-ul-Wahab-al-Khairi and Maulvi Syed Iqbal Haider.
The two petitioners have challenged the deletion of a Presidential Order, issued in 2002, accepting recommendation of National Law Commission. It also extended, by three years, the age of retirement of superior court Judges. The Order was removed from the package originally put in the 17th Amendment to the Constitution to legalise the Presidential actions during the absence of parliament at the insistence of Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal.
The question was raised again by Habib Wahab Khairi, It was heard by a Constitutional Bench, headed by Chief Justice Nazim Hussain Siddiqui. While the Bench dismissed other petitions, objecting to Pervez Musharraf holding two offices of President and of Chief of the Army Staff, simultaneously, it carried over the Khairi petition about service tenure of the Judges, saying that it would be examined separately at a later stage.
The next week at Supreme Court will open with 23 appeals against various actions taken by National Accountability Courts in the country.
Appeals in service matters and assessment of income tax and customs' duty also form a major part of the cause list for the next week but most of the cases would be taken up by Judges when they are not part of the Larger Bench.
The other benches will be as under:
FIRST BENCH: Chief Justice Nazim Hussain Siddiqui, Justice Javed Iqbal and Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar.
SECOND BENCH: Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary, Justice Rana Baghwandas and Justice Saiyed Saeed Ashhed.
THIRD BENCH: Justice Hamid Ali Mirza, Justice M Javed Buttar and Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk.
And, after the Larger Bench disperses, Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan, Justice Muhammad Nawaz Abbasi and Justice Tassadduq Hussain Jillani will form the Fourth Bench, and Justice Faqir Muhammad Khokhar and Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan will sit on the Fifth Bench.