KARACHI: Lawyers boycotted court proceedings here Tuesday to register their protest against the proposed appointment of Chief Justice Sindh Ahmed Ali M Shaikh as an ad hoc judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

At the entrance of Sindh High Court and respective districts' courts, office bearers of the bar bodies and lawyers supporting them blocked entry of litigants and lawyers to courtrooms. Only court staffers were allowed to access the courtrooms.

At SHC, lawyers holding placards chanted slogans that the principle of seniority has been ignored in elevation of high court judges to Supreme Court and proposed ad hoc appointment of Chief Justice Shaikh.

Strike of lawyers created hardships for litigants and forced benches to adjourn the hearings of the cases fixed before them.

Lawyers gathered in barroom and discuss situation created by elevation of a junior judge of Sindh High Court to Supreme Court and the reports regarding the refusal of Chief Justice Shaikh to accept the ad hoc appointment.

Speaking to media, Sindh High Court Bar Association's president Salahuddin Ahmed reiterated the bar bodies contention that principle of seniority should be followed in elevation and appointment to Supreme Court.

He said at present there seemed to be no fixed criterion and added that the same should be evolved and all the stakeholders, particularly the bar bodies of the whole country and principal law officers of the provinces and federal government, should be taken on board in this regard.

He said that the procedure being currently adopted by the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) would create distrust among judges of superior judiciary about each other, will tarnish the image of judiciary in public and negatively impact its functioning.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021