Judges' extension: Supreme Court puts its order on hold

The Supreme Court on Friday put till April 11 its order on hold. The order was in relation to grant of one-year extension to four additional judges of Lahore High Court (LHC) and two of Sindh High Court (SHC) by overturning the Parliamentary Committee on judges appointment's rejection of Judicial Commission's recommendations to grant extension to the judges.
The federal government had requested the Supreme Court on March 28 to review its decision on the issue of extension to six additional judges of the high courts of Punjab and Sindh - a move seen by many here as a firm stand taken by the government to reaffirm parliament's role in the process of judicial appointment.
In a 52-page review petition drafted by Additional Attorney General K. K. Agha, the government had said that the Supreme Court went beyond its power of interpreting the Constitution under the doctrine of judicial review and rewrote partly Article 175-A of the Constitution and rendering the role of the Parliamentary Committee (PC) virtually meaningless and redundant in the new judicial appointment process.
Meanwhile, a four-member apex court bench comprising Justice Mahmood Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui, Justice Jawwad S Khawaja, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Tariq Pervaiz rejected the federation's request to change counsel. The federation had earlier requested the court to allow it to appoint Waseem Sajjad as its counsel.
The petition was filed against the apex court verdict, which overturned the parliamentary committee's decision to refuse extension to six additional judges despite recommendations made by the judicial commission. The court had directed the federal government to issue a notification endorsing the extension of the six judges in line with the recommendations made by the judicial commission last month.
On March 4, the Supreme Court had turned down the eight-member bipartisan parliamentary committee's decision to reject the judicial commission's recommendation to grant a one-year extension to six additional judges of Lahore and Sindh high courts. The controversy over powers of the PC and JC erupted in the first week of February when the eight-member bipartisan committee, headed by Senator Nayyar Hussain Bokhari of the PPP, rejected JC's recommendations to extend the service of four additional judges of the Lahore High Court - Justices Muhammad Yawar Ali, Syed Mazahir Ali Akbar Naqvi, Mamood Rashid Sheikh and Muhammad Farrakuh Irfan Khan. On March 1, the committee again rejected JC's nominations of Justices Muhammad Tasnim and Salman Hamid of the Sindh High Court.