Non-confirmation of female judge Judicial Commission’s decision challenged in SC

ISLAMABAD: The non-confirmation of a female judge of the Lahore High Court (LHC) by the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) has been challenged in the Supreme Court.

Mrs Nasira Iqbal, Advocate Supreme Court of Pakistan, and wife of Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal, has filed a petition in the Supreme Court under Article 184(3) of the Constitution, challenging the order passed by the Judicial Commission of Pakistan, dated May 5, 2017 by non-confirming the service of Justice Mrs Erum Sajad Gull of the Lahore High Court.

The petition, filed through Advocate Supreme Court Shah Khawar, prayed the apex court to set aside the impugned order dated 4-5-2017, passed by the Judicial Commission to the extent of non-confirmation of Justice Mrs Erum Sajad Gull and send the matter back to the respondent JCP for reconsidering her case and also for deciding the unanimous reference sent to the Commission by the respondent Parliamentary Committee, in the larger interest of justice.

The petitioner informed the court that after serving for one year as judges of the Lahore High Court, the names of judges seeking confirmation were placed before the JCP in the year 2016.

The said judges were Justice Javaid Minhas, Justice Sardar Ahmed Naeem, Justice Gulzar Awan, Justice Erum Sajad Gull, Justice Raja Shahid Abbasi, Justice Sheram Sarwar Chaudhry, Justice Muhammad Sajid Mehmood Sethi and Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfaraz Dogar.

The petitioner submitted that in its first meeting, the JCP dropped the names of Justice Javaid Minhas and Justice Gulzar Awan, and was of the opinion that Justice Sardar Ahmed Naeem, Justice Erum Sajad Gull, Justice Sheram Sarwar Chaudhry and Justice  Muhammad Sajid Mehmood Sethi be confirmed, while the other two judges be given a further extension of one year.

The petitioner, however, submitted that in the end it was decided by the JCP that none of the judges be confirmed and they all be given a further one-year extension. “But after completing two years of service all the aforementioned judges were confirmed except for the single female judge, Mrs Justice Erum Sajad Gull, even though she decided 10,000 cases which were upheld by the Supreme Court of Pakistan,” the petitioner informed.

She submitted that according to the record of the Lahore High Court, amongst the sitting judges of the Lahore High Court, Mrs Justice Erum Sajad Gull had disposed of maximum cases in these two years. She was applauded for her hard work by the chief justice of Lahore High Court and the other senior judges of the LHC.

She further contended that Mrs Justice Erum Sajad Gull, during these two years, served as a single bench as well as in different division benches of the LHC. Similarly, she authored highly sensitive cases of terrorism, NAB etc., which were upheld by the Supreme Court of Pakistan, the petitioner submitted.

The petitioner submitted that  non-confirmation of Justice Mrs Erum Sajad Gull is a clear violation of Article 25, read with other provisions of the Constitution of Pakistan and is also a major setback to the women of Pakistan, discouraging female lawyers by sending them a message that females are not appropriate to be high court judges.

It is also settled in the case of Munir Ahmed Bhatti, mentioned supra that the two bodies namely the Commission and the Committee were co-ordinate bodies, neither of which is subordinate to the other. In the wake of this legal principle enunciated in the judgment wherein it is held that decisions of the parliamentary committee are subject to judicial review in Supreme Court, the decision of commission is also subjected to judicial review by the Supreme Court.

“This is evident from the fact, that though Mrs Justice Erum Sajad Gull was an upright, honest, intelligent, hardworking and capable judge but she was not confirmed as a high court judge, for reasons not known to incumbent judge,” the petitioner contended.

The petitioner pleaded that the issue to be determined in this constitutional petition, is a question of public importance as contemplated under Article 184(3) of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973.