ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Umer Ata Bandial on Thursday remarked that the purpose of hearing the case of recruitments in the subordinate courts of Sindh High Court (SHC) was to ensure transparency.
A three-member bench of the apex court — headed by Chief Justice Umer Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Ijazul Ahsen and Justice Aminuddin Khan — heard the case pertaining to the alleged illegal recruitments made in the district judiciary during the tenure of SHC Chief Justice Ahmed Ali Sheikh on Thursday. One Ghulam Sarwar Qureshi had filed a petition with the apex court on the issue.
During the hearing, the chief justice observed that the purpose of hearing this matter was to ensure a transparent appointment process in the district judiciary of the province. The chief justice further said that the registrar of Sindh High Court (SHC) had also dispatched them a report compiled by a three-member committee constituted by the Supreme Court to examine all the hirings.
Munir A Malik, counsel for the Sindh High Court, told the court that they had not received a copy of the report. It is pertinent to mention that on the last hearing of the case held in December 2021, the SC bench had constituted a committee to examine all hirings and directed the submission of a report by January 15, 2022. The matter was then adjourned. Munir A Malik submitted that department-wise, rules and procedures were available for recruitment and appointments. He assured the court that in future no deficiency would be made in this regard.
Khwaja Shamsul Islam, counsel for the petitioner, submitted that the apex court in its two orders had made observations against the recruitments made in the subordinate judiciary of the province. The chief justice, however, said their observations in the court order were of temporary nature adding that until now the court had not given its final decision. He further observed that the committee comprising five judges of the Sindh High Court while working for three months had made recruitments of 90 or 100 judges in the district judiciary. “The appointment of judges is made by the Judicial Committee of Judges,” the CJP remarked.
The CJP noted that in some of the recruitments made, flaws of unjustified reason regarding age relaxation were available adding that the aspect of transfer from one district to another was also there as well. As far as the question of appointment of stenographers was concerned, the chief justice said short-hand experts were not available and the basic reason for their shortage was that most of the people had shifted to computers. “That’s why recruitments were made from the interior Sindh,” the CJP remarked adding that they had not yet finally decided the matter.
Meanwhile, the court directed its office to provide the parties with copies of the report of the committee sent by the Registrar Sindh High Court and adjourned the hearing until August.
