11 judicial officers dismissed on graft charges reinstated

PESHAWAR: Justice Naeem Anwar, a referee judge of the Appellate Tribunal, on Friday reinstated 11 judicial officers, including a district and session judge and six additional district and session judges, who had been dismissed over alleged corruption in 2017.

The appellate tribunal heard the appeals of District Judge Manzoor Qadir, Rifat Amir, Qaiser Rahim, Malik Amjad Rahim, senior civil judges Shah Hussain, Safeer Qaiser Malik, Rashid Rauf Swati, Adil Akbar and civil judge Tasneem Hussain.

Zia-ur-Rehman Tajik, Ahmed Sultan Tareen, Fida Gul and other lawyers appeared on behalf of the petitioners.The lawyers told the court that their clients, who were working as district judge, additional district and session judges, senior civil judge and civil judge, were dismissed from service in 2017 after being accused of corruption.

They said that the sacked judges were serving as judicial officers in grades 21, 20, 19 and 18 and were dismissed from service without being given any opportunity to defend themselves.

The lawyers said that their clients had not committed corruption and no allegation of corruption had been proved against them. They argued that the judicial officers were dismissed without any evidence which had tarnished their reputation.

The lawyers said that the petitioners were promoted on the basis of seniority and they enjoyed a good reputation in the eyes of the general public.They requested the court to order the reinstatement of their clients as they were dismissed from service without being given the change to defend themselves. The lawyers said that the judicial officers were sacked on the basis of verbal complaints and there was no proof against them.

The dismissals had deprived them of their perks and privileges besides causing mental agony to them, they said, adding, the lawyers requested the court to set aside their dismissal orders and reinstate them on their jobs by declaring the dismissal orders null and void.