KARACHI: Bar associations in Sindh will boycott court proceedings across the province on Tuesday against the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) meeting to consider the elevation of the Chief Justice of Sindh High Court (SHC), Ahmed Ali Sheikh, as an ad hoc judge in the Supreme Court.

The decision of strike was taken jointly by the Sindh High Court Bar Association (SHCBA), the Karachi Bar Association (KBA) and the Sindh Bar Council (SBC) at a meeting here on Monday.

The leadership of the lawyers bodies at a press conference deplored the bypassing of seniority rules for elevation of judges to the Supreme Court.

They said that the seniority rules were bypassed in the last three to four appointments in the apex court.

They asked why the Chief Justice of the SHC is being elevated as an ad hoc judge of the apex court and demanded that he should be elevated as a permanent judge of the superior judiciary.

The President of the SHCBA, Salahuddin Ahmed, said that the SJC meeting is scheduled for Tuesday to consider the Chief Justice of the SHC for elevation as an ad hoc judge in the Supreme Court.

He stated that the lawyers associations would challenge such elevation as the Chief Justice of the SHC is the senior most judge of the high court and should be elevated as a permanent judge of the superior judiciary.

“We will exhaust all the options to block the violation of seniority rules in the elevation of judges,” he said.

Naeem Querashi, president of KBA, said that the system would collapse if the judgments of the Al-Jehad and Malik cases are not followed for elevation of judges in superior judiciary.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021