ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) reserved its verdict in a petition challenging the appointment of District and Sessions Judge Nasir Javed Rana.
A single bench of IHC Chief Justice Sardar Sarfraz Dogar reserved the judgment after hearing a petition filed by Usama Riaz challenging the appointment of the judge who decided the case regarding the 190 million pounds against PTI founder Imran Khan.
During the hearing, the Chief Justice asked why they had not sent the matter to the High Court’s inspection team, as the matter of the judges of the sessions court is sent to the inspection team.
He remarked that the Supreme Court had given observations in 2004, and there is apparently nothing illegal in the notification, which the petitioner has challenged.
In his petition, Riaz Hanif Rahi, the counsel of the petitioner, contended that the impugned Notification dated 14.12.2022 is void ab initio as issued under no provision of law. It is a settled principle, as held in Gadoon Textile v. WAPDA (1997 SCMR 641, para 48), that: “A public functionary is permitted to do what it is authorized to do by law, unlike a human being who is permitted to do what he is not forbidden by law to do.”
He also contended that the judicial services rendered by Respondent No. 2 after the Supreme Court judgment of 19.10.2004 are in direct contravention of Articles 189 and 190 of the Constitution.He argued that Rana’s elevation is a case of “elite capture” within the meaning of Article 3 of the Constitution, condemned by this Court in 2018 CLC 1275 and disapproved by the Apex Court in 2013.
The counsel also argued that under Article 187(2) of the Constitution, this Court is bound to enforce the judgment of the Supreme Court and declare the impugned notification as without jurisdiction. Reliance is placed on 2023 SCMR 8.
He continued that this Court in Muhammad Ashfaq Ahmed vs. Ali Arshad Hakim (2013PLC (CS) 1463) held that selective appointments based on personal liking offend transparency, merit, good governance, and the rule of law.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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