HYDERABAD, May 22 Office-bearers of different district bar associations have urged Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry in a recent meeting in Karachi to induct judges into Sindh High Court from the interior of the province.

The DBA office-bearers Noorul Haq Qureshi and Abdul Sattar Kazi from Hyderabad, Ali Mohammad Dahiri from Nawabshah and Ali Mohammad Nizamani from Sanghar said that they met the CJP at Supreme Court registry in Karachi on Wednesday and pleaded before him that the lawyers based in the interior of Sindh felt that they were being ignored and only their colleagues from Karachi were given preference.

Besides, they discussed with him matters relating to shortages of judges in Hyderabad circuit bench of the SHC, disposal of backlog of pending cases and judicial policy, they said.

Hyderabad District Bar Association (HDBA) president Noorul Haq Qureshi said that he raised the issue of shortage of judges at Hyderabad circuit bench. “We requested him that we need more judges and that two division benches will be able to clear the backlog. He promised that he would try to send at least one more judge to Hyderabad circuit,” said Mr Qureshi.

He said that one additional division bench would dispose of regular cases and the other would take care of motion cases fixed daily in a large number.

“I drew his attention towards a general feeling among lawyers from different parts of the interior that advocates from their areas are not being inducted although they have potential and expertise to become high court judges,” he said.

He said that newly inducted judges were mostly from Karachi who had experience mostly in handling cases involving rent, tax or corporate matters. “But the lawyers in the interior can deal with a variety of cases like criminal, rent, tax, anti-corruption, family, revenue and civil with equal dexterity,” he said.

HDBA secretary Ayaz Tunio supported Mr Qureshi's viewpoint and said that the CJP told them that since the apex court was now seized of this issue as a result of the 18th amendment he would not make any observation on it.

Former High Court Bar Association (HCBA) president Abdul Sattar Kazi said that he also advocated induction of judges from interior Sindh.

“The CJP told us that in fact the issue of judges' appointment is now sub judice, therefore, everyone will have to wait for its verdict and then this issue will be addressed,” Kazi quoted the CJP as having told lawyers.

He referred to induction of lawyers from Karachi as judges of high court and said that they were trying to have a grasp over cases. “But for the time being disposal of cases in high court leaves much to be desired,” he said.

Nawabshah District Bar Association president Ali Mohammad Dahiri who had been an active leader of lawyers' movement said that they told the CJP that the interior of Sindh had been deprived of its rightful share in selection of judges despite the fact that the lawyers were assured during the movement that judges would be inducted in consultation with local bar associations.

“It's not been done in present case,” he said.

“Recently appointed judges who are mostly from Karachi are not all-rounders as far as their performance in different cases of different nature is concerned,” he said.

He said that bar councils should be consulted before induction of judges.

Sanghar DBA president Anwar Nizamani supported his colleagues' views on judges' appointment and said that their rivals jeered at them for their failure to get judges from the interior inducted. “It will weaken our movement. That's why we say that those who are competent must be inducted as judges on a parity basis,” he said.