Judicial Commission names SHC chief justice as ad hoc SC judge

• The JCP has decided to appoint SHC CJ Ahmed Ali Sheikh as an ad hoc judge of the Supreme Court.
• The commission approved the SHC CJ as an ad hoc judge of the SC by a majority of 5 to 4, but subject to his consent.
• Earlier, SHC CJ had written a letter conveying his unwillingness to join the SC as an ad hoc Judge.

ISLAMABAD: With a majority vote of 5 to 4, the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) Tuesday decided to appoint Sindh High Court (SHC) Chief Justice (CJ) Ahmed Ali Sheikh as an ad hoc judge of the Supreme Court for a period of one year, The News reported.

A JCP meeting was held here at the Supreme Court with its chairman Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed in the chair.

The meeting was attended by members of the commission including four senior SC judges, Justice Mushir Alam, Justice Umer Ata Bandial, Justice Qazi Faez Isa, Justice Maqbool Baqir, with Justice (retd) Dost Muhammad Khan, Attorney General Khalid Javed, Federal Law Minister Farogh Naseem and Akhtar Hussain, a member from the Pakistan Bar Council.

Sources privacy to the development said after deliberations, the commission approved the SHC chief justice as an ad hoc judge of the apex court by a majority of 5 to 4, but subject to his consent.

CJ Gulzar Ahmed, Justice Mushir Alam, Justice Umer Ata Bandial, Law Minister Farogh Naseem, AG Khalid Javed supported the appointment, while Justice Qazi Faez Isa, Justice Maqbool Baqir, Justice (retd) Dost Muhammad Khan and Pakistan Bar Council representative Akhtar Hussain opposed the nomination.

On Aug 5, SHC Chief Justice Ahmed Ali Sheikh had written a letter to the JCP to dispel any impression that he had, at any stage, agreed to or given consent to attend the sittings of the Supreme Court as an ad hoc judge. However, he clarified that he had no objection to his nomination as a permanent SC judge.

On Tuesday, AG Khalid Javed, in his three-page viewpoint, which he submitted before the Judicial Commission, and shared with the media as well that in case of SHC CJ's refusal, Article 206 will not apply, which says that if a high court judge does not accept his elevation to SC as a permanent judge, then he will be deemed to retire.

He submitted that the SHC CJ wrote a letter conveying his unwillingness to join the SC as an ad hoc Judge, and agreeing to appointment as a permanent judge of the SC. He said that the arrangement envisaged in Article 182 is not a case of appointment in any manner.

It is only a temporary arrangement whereby a person falling in one of the two clauses of Article 182 may be ‘requested’ or ‘required’, as the case may be, to attend sittings of the SC as an ad hoc judge for such period as may be necessary, the AG submitted.