ISLAMABAD: Justice Sajjad Ali Shah is dismayed by the distrust shown by two members of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) on two judges of the Sindh High Court (SHC) recommended by the chief justice of Pakistan for their elevation to the Supreme Court.
Justice Sajjad, who will lay down his robes on attaining the age of superannuation on 13th August wrote a letter to the chief justice of Pakistan regarding the JCP meeting held on July 28 to consider the names of Chief Justice Peshawar High Court (PHC) Qaisar Rashid Khan, SHC judges – Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui, Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto, and Justice Shahid Waheed of Lahore High Court (LHC) to fill the existing vacancies in the Supreme Court.
Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Sardar Tariq Masood last week also wrote letters to the chief justice of Pakistan, who is chairman of the Commission, and to the JCP members regarding the meeting.
Justice Sajjad letter states; “I have received two letters via WhatsApp from Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Sardar Tariq Masood detailing their version of events that took place in the meeting of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan on 28-07-2022.”
“I was really disappointed that one of the honourable members from the judicial side spoke about the integrity of the judges from Sindh by saying that he has gained such information from “one or two lawyers” that he knows from Sindh the worth of such information could be gauged from the fact that the representative of the lawyers viz Akhtar Hussain did not question their integrity and specifically stated that so far the nominee’s Justice Shafi Siddiqui and Justice Hassan Azhar Rizvi were concerned he was disputing their nomination on the principle of seniority and had no issue with other traits.”
“I must record that the member did not have the confidence in his colleagues to consult them on this issue. Two members of the JCP had not only served the Sindh High Court for more than a decade but also had remained its Chief Justices. If confidence could not be found in the members of the JCP, there were two more judges presently serving in the Supreme Court, other than the members of the JCP, who have served the Sindh High Court for a decade who could have been consulted on this issue.”
“I already stated this during the meeting, but I wish for the record to expressly set down my view on this issue. Having served with the nominees from Sindh for a number of years, I can say with full confidence that their integrity is beyond doubt. I would also like to state that questioning the integrity of judges on the basis of hearsay from ‘one or two lawyers’ who are not even named is regrettable.
It appears that in the spirit of opposing these nominations, measures which caused unjustifiable harm to the reputation of these judges were restored to and as head of the institution I would request you to do everything in your power to restore that reputation. Confidence in their integrity and character must be inspired and restored for the sake of the institution. Let us not lose sight of the fact that these nominees did not come forward and apply for this candidature but were nominated on the basis of their credentials.”
“Attorney General for Pakistan did not take the name of a single nominee judge let alone addressing their competence or their required traits for elevation to this court. On the contrary when one of the judicial members of the commission requested for rejection of the nominations he specifically, while raising his hand, said “No, No” and requested for adjournment of the meeting till settlement of the criteria for selection of the candidates as is evident from the audio recording,” the letter concludes.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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