President Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Muhammad Yasin Azad has demanded of the judicial commission to fill the vacant seats of judges in all the provincial high courts within 2 months period. "It's an anomaly that only 14 judges out of the 40 allocated for the Sindh High Court are dispensing justice and, hence, the backlog of the cases is piling up," the newly elected SCBA president remarked while addressing a reception organised in his honour at Sindh High Court Bar Association Hall here on Tuesday.
SHCBA, Hyderabad, and District Bar Association Hyderabad had organised the event. The lawyer leader questioned as to why the appointments of the high court judges were being delayed while the Judicial Commission headed by Chief Justice of Supreme Court had been empowered for the appointments.
The SCBA president objected to the 3 times rejection of the list of the names proposed for appointment as SHC judges by the chief justice of SHC. Talking about Justice Gulzar Ahmed's elevation to the apex court, Azad said he disagreed with the method of the appointment.
"The same rule of seniority considered for the appointment of judges from Lahore High Court and Peshawar High Court was not applied in Sindh," he lamented. "If we don't abide by the rules, the ordinary people will consequently begin to loose faith in the justice system," he noted. He said the Parliamentary Committee, being the elected representatives of the people, should play its due role in the appointment of judges.
"The Judicial Commission should issue minutes of the meeting," he demanded saying that though Pakistan Bar Council is represented in the commission's meetings but the minutes were essential. Commenting on the general state of affairs in the country, he said though corruption, lack of merit, inflation, joblessness and other problems had engulfed the country but those issues should only be addressed by the elected leadership.
"The legal fraternity will not allow any adventurer to present the situation as an excuse to topple the democratic dispensation in the country," he warned. He also touched on the issue of the lawyers movement, which restored the higher judiciary deposed by the former president Pervez Musharraf, blaming the movement's 'heroes' for overlooking the lawyers who sacrificed their lives.
Azad informed that the construction of the 72-room lawyers hostel, with facilities of a 5-star hotel, in Islamabad would be completed within 2 years. "For the convenience of the lawyers, I have requested the chief justice of the supreme court to give 1 week notice before the SC bench is shifted to any province so that the lawyers have time to prepare their cases," he added.
Earlier, Additional Advocate General Allah Bachayo Soomro, who is also president of SHCBA Hyderabad chapter, welcomed the guest and honoured him with Sindhi cap and Ajarak. SHCBA President Anwar Mansoor Khan, Members Pakistan Bar Council Akhtar Hussain and Salahuddin Panhwar, Sindh Bar Council Member, President HDBA and Soomro also spoke on the occasion and highlighted the problems faced by the legal fraternity with special reference to appointment of Sindh's lawyers to the high court.