Law ministry’s notification for reconstitution of district judicial service tribunal declared illegal

ISLAMABAD: The law ministry’s notification of March 18 for the reconstitution of the Islamabad district judicial service tribunal consisting of three judges of the Islamabad High Court has been declared illegal.

The Islamabad subordinate judiciary service tribunal issued a written order and observed that in the presence of the service tribunal, the acting chief Justice does not have the authority to nominate new judges as members of the tribunal.

Tribunal members cannot be removed or deprived of jurisdiction like high court judges and since there is no difference between the tribunal chairman and the members, there is no need for its reconstitution.

The tribunal observed that the federal government and the president also do not have the authority to reconstitute the tribunal until a vacancy occurs. The law ministry’s notification regarding the reconstitution of the tribunal has no legal status.

The Islamabad subordinate judicial service tribunal, comprising Justice Tariq Mahmood Jahangiri, Justice Babar Sattar and Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan of the Islamabad High Court, issued a decision to allow the appeal in a service matter, observing that this decision is being issued in circumstances in which some clarification is also required.

The tribunal observed that the personal secretary to the acting chief justice contacted the tribunal registrar and asked the member judges of the tribunal not to issue decisions in the pending appeals and to return the files as the acting chief justice has decided to dissolve the tribunal.

The tribunal observed that the staff of the acting chief justice’s office insisted that the files of the decisions reserved in the appeals should also be returned so that they can be placed before the members of the new tribunal. The order noted that after the formation of the tribunal, the acting chief justice has no authority to interfere, and he cannot issue such instructions.

The service tribunal, formed to hear appeals of the subordinate judiciary of Islamabad, consists of judges nominated by the then chief justice on January 9, 2024. Since there is no difference between the chairman and members of the tribunal, there is no need to reconstitute it.

The federal government and the president also do not have the authority to reconstitute the tribunal until a vacancy occurs. The tribunal observes that the notification issued by the law ministry on March 18 regarding the formation of the new tribunal has no legal status.

The order said that in the appeal in which the tribunal had reserved its decision on March 13, the miscellaneous petition has been assigned to the judges nominated for the new tribunal. The tribunal observed that it does not want to embarrass the fellow judges nominated by the acting chief justice. The order has directed the registrar of the service tribunal to provide a copy of this order to the acting chief justice and the new judges nominated by him.

With approval from the president, the law ministry had issued a notification on March 18 to form a new tribunal comprising high court judges nominated by the acting chief justice, under which Justice Khadim Hussain Soomro, who was recently transferred from the Sindh High Court, was appointed as chairman of the service tribunal, while additional judges Justice Muhammad Azam Khan and Justice Inam Amin Minhas, who were recently appointed by the Judicial Commission, were appointed as members of the tribunal.