Another PHC judge refuses to hear petition

PESHAWAR: Another judge of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Friday refused to hear a writ petition challenging the criteria for appointment of civil judges in the province as he transferred the case to the chief justice for fixing it before another bench.
During hearing of the writ petition, Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth observed that being a member of the administrative committee of the high court, he cannot hear the case.
However, the court re-issued notice to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and KP Public Service Commission chairman to submit reply in the petition challenging criteria including two years experience as high court lawyer for the appointment of 120 civil judges in the province.
On Thursday, Justice Yahya Afridi had also referred the petition to another bench of the high court as he observed that he cannot hear the case for being a member of the administrative committee.
However, he had issued a notice to the provincial government through chief secretary, provincial secretary Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Human Rights, and chairman and director examinations of the KP Public Service Commission.
The petitioner’s lawyer Aminur Rehman Yousafzai asked the bench to issue an interim order about acceptance of the application of the petitioner for the post as November 20 was the last date for submission of the applications.
Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth observed that the petitioner’s application could be included even later on the court order and fixed November 23 for the next hearing. A Peshawar-based lawyer, Waheedullah, had challenged the appointments in the high court through his lawyer Aminur Rehman Yousafzai.
It was mentioned in the petition that the high court, after almost seven years, invited applications for 77 vacant positions of Civil Judge/Judicial Magistrate/Alaqa Qazi on October 3, 2013.The petition said the petitioner being qualified applied for one out of the said posts. It said the petitioner was astonished to see another advertisement published on October 22, 2015 by the KP Public Service Commission, whereby applications for 120 vacant positions were invited, but with different eligibility criteria.