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WEEKLY
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| Plan to cut SC strength shelved |
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Thursday, December 06, 2007
By Ansar Abbasi
ISLAMABAD: The government has changed its mind on slashing the strength of the Supreme Court judges from 17 to 11.
Sources told The News that the incumbent Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, who took oath of his office under the PCO following the Nov 3 action, has requested that the number of the apex court judges should not be reduced from the pre-PCO situation.
The Attorney General of Pakistan, Malik Qayyum, when contacted, confirmed that the decision to slash the number of SC judges had been reversed. He said that Justice Dogar was of the view that in view of the volume of work pending before the apex court, the strength of 11 judges would not be enough to dispose of the cases.
Qayyum said that a fresh lot of six judges for the Supreme Court would soon take oath and the chief justice was presently finalising their nominations. One each to be inducted would come from Balochistan, Sindh and the Frontier while two or three judges would be inducted from the Punjab.
When asked if any of the deposed judges would be taking oath, the attorney general said a clear "no". There were reports making round in the federal capital that except for the deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Rana Bhagwandas, Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday, Justice Raja Fayyaz and Justice Falak Sher, the remaining deposed judges of the pre-Nov 3 judiciary would be restored.
"This chapter is closed," the attorney general said, emphasizing that the government had decided that no judge who had refused to take oath under the PCO or was not invited to take oath by the government in the post-Nov 3 scenario, would be restored now.
Otherwise also, he argued that the post-Nov 3 PCO Supreme Court, while validating emergency and the PCO, had ruled that those judges who had not taken oath under the PCO ceased to be the judges of the apex court. Interestingly, in the evening of November 3, a seven-member bench of the pre-PCO judiciary, headed by the then chief justice, had suspended the PCO and emergency and declared it unconstitutional and illegal. The same bench had also passed an order restraining the judges of the Supreme Court and the provincial high courts from taking oath under the PCO.
Meanwhile, in the post-November 3 scenario, the government has contacted some of the judges who had refused to take oath under the PCO, and invited them to take a fresh oath. A leading government law officer on condition of not being named also confided to this correspondent that some of the judges were even approached by the incumbent CJ.
The deposed justice Javed Iqbal, who was third on the seniority list amongst the judges of the SC in the pre-Nov 3 scenario and was senior to Justice Dogar, the source said, was also approached and Justice Dogar even agreed to take him back. However, the president did not agree to this while Justice Javed Iqbal, although, was ready to forgo his seniority in favour of Justice Dogar, was adamant that he would take oath only under the Constitution and not under the PCO.
Justice Iqbal was part of the seven-member bench which had declared the November 3 action of the then COAS General Musharraf, now President Musharraf, as illegal and unconstitutional. He did not take oath under the PCO but accepted the government’s offer to appoint him as the chairman of the National Press Council.
Although, Justice Iqbal was criticised a lot for accepting the government offer after not availing of the opportunity to become the country's chief justice under the PCO, a family source of the deposed judge said that he was under tremendous pressure to accept the offer.
The source alleged that the jobs of Justice Javed Iqbal's two daughters and his two sons-in-law were at risk if he had not fallen in line with the government. Justice Iqbal, who comes from a very humble background and has no source of income other than his salary, also fell prey to the government's persuasion during the initial days of his detention at his Islamabad residence where he was all alone and had developed heart problem. His family lives in Quetta, where he was taken only after he agreed not to speak against the government.
The deposed judge, who has taken the charge of his new assignment, is not attending the office. The source said that the judge was considering quitting as he was now much composed.
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briefs...
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ISSN 1563-9479 
