Larger bench to hear presidential reference on judges’ appointment

ISLAMABAD: A five member larger bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan has been formed to hear the presidential reference, seeking opinion of the country’s top court over the appointment of judges in the superior judiciary, Geo News reported on Friday.

The bench headed by Justice Khilji Arif Hussain would start hearing the reference, filed by the government under Article 86 of the Constitution, seeking Supreme Court's opinion over the role of Judicial Commission and Parliamentary Committee in the appointment of judges.

The president on Thursday signed the reference containing 13 questions which was filed in the apex court here on Friday.

The reference was filed to obtain advice of the Supreme Court under Article 186 of the Constitution, inter alia, with regard to the appointment of chief justice of the Islamabad High Court as well as confirmation of the additional judges of the Islamabad High Court.

On November 22, a case pertaining to extension in the tenure of two additional judges of the Islamabad High Court had taken a new turn before the Supreme Court after the Attorney General of Pakistan Irfan Qadir had informed it (SC) that the government wanted to file a presidential reference over the issue.

Questioning the composition of judicial commission on the judges' appointments, he had sought two-week time from the Supreme Court for filing the presidential reference, citing the need for seeking legal opinion on all issues related to appointments of the IHC judges.

On October 22, the Judicial Commission of Pakistan had recommended the permanent appointment of IHC's additional judge Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui and a six-month extension in the tenure of IHC's additional judge Noorul Haq N Qureshi.

On November 6, the Parliamentary Committee for Appointment of Superior Courts judges had also endorsed the recommendations of the Judicial Commission. The Law Ministry, however, had not issued a notification for extension in the tenure of these two judges and the matter was still pending before the Supreme Court for adjudication.

The Supreme Court would start hearing the reference on Monday.