Islamabad: The Judicial Commission of Pakistan JCSP headed by Chief Qazi Faez Isa has pushed for the appointment of two of the former judges ad-hoc judges of the Supreme Court after eliciting a dissent from one of the members of the JCSP, Justice Muneeb Akhtar.
For these positions, retired Judge, Peshawar High Court, Justice (retd) Mazhar Alam Miankhel, and Justice (retd) Sardar Tariq Masood have been nominated. Justice Muneeb Akhtar further remarked during the commission’s meeting that he did not approve of ad hoc judges despite admitting that the nominees were of much merit.
Although Justice Muneeb Akhtar argued that all commission members were against ad hoc judges at this moment, eight votes were in favor of addressing this issue. The appointee as Justice (retd) Sardar Tariq Masood was approved with a majority vote of 8 to 1. However, six members called for reconfirmation of Justice Masood’s opt-in to avoid corruption of findings thus his appointment was approved by a majority of six to three.
Earlier, Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa had nominated four candidates for ad-hoc judges – Justice (retd) Mushir Alam and Justice (retd) Maqbool Baqar are among the nominees who rejected the positions.
The recommendations are now going to be moved to the president for approval before the appointments are confirmed. Nevertheless, the use of ad hoc judges has been established as an issue for debate, particularly with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf or the PTI denouncing it as a ploy to gain favorable verdicts on reserved seats. As of now, PTI has vowed to challenge these appointments in the Supreme Judicial Council, referring to ad hocism as a significant threat to Judicial independence and public confidence.
Barrister Gohar while speaking for PTI appealed to the Supreme Court to hold on to the reserved seats decisions; labeling that the appointment of ad hoc judges has been done exclusively to violate the judiciary moralities.
Fissures over ad hoc appointments must be seen against the fact that these concerns are recurrent elements within Pakistan’s judicial dynamics and reflect persisting vulnerabilities in the judiciary’s autonomy and accountability in its appointments.
