LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Friday directed the Punjab government to fill the vacancies of judges at special courts including accountability and Anti Terrorism Courts (ATCs) in the province within three weeks.

The court also summoned a progress report from the government’s committee aimed to appoint the judges in a transparent manner by May 20.

Earlier, the members of a government’s panel formed to appoint the judges appeared before the court as being summoned the other day.

Advocate General of Punjab (AGP) also accompanied provincial minister Marriyum Aurangzeb, law minister Malik Sohaib Bharath and finance minister Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman.

The AGP told the court that a letter had been written to the registrar LHC after finalizing names of the judges.

He said as per the law, a panel of three judges for each court had been provided to the high court to select one.

Provincial minister Aurangzeb also stated that the government aimed to appoint the judges in a transparent manner.

On a court query, she said the Punjab government had formed a committee and requested the chief justice to provide a panel of judges from which appointments could be made.

The court questioned under what law the Chief Justice should provide a panel of names and observed that if the appointments were made according to the law, the issue would not have reached this point.

The court said the government should not make illegal demands and added that the supremacy of the law and the Constitution was important.

The court asked about the time frame for appointing judges in the ATCs and the deadlines for decisions to be made by the special courts.

The AGP at this sought time to reconsider the appointments of the judges and court allowed three weeks accordingly.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024