PESHAWAR: A Peshawar High Court bench on Tuesday issued a notice to the Judicial Commission’s secretary to respond to the petition of former Islamabad High Court additional judge Azim Afridi against his non-confirmation as the IHC judge by the commission.

The petition was filed over four years ago. Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and Justice Lal Jan Khattak gave two more days to deputy attorney general Manzoor Khalil to file comments on the petition on behalf of the federal government.

The bench later fixed the next hearing for May 4. The DAG said he would produce the comments before that.

The petitioner, a senior district and sessions judge, who is currently serving as the chairman of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Services Tribunal, has requested the court to declare the meeting of the Judicial Commission held on Oct 22, 2012, illegal, malicious and of no legal effect.

The respondents in the petition are the president of Pakistan through the law ministry; federal government through the law ministry, and the Judicial Commission secretary.

The petitioner said he was serving as district and sessions judge in KP when he was elevated as the IHC additional judge to the seat reserved for Fata in 2011.

He claimed he had discharged his duty as additional judge and performed his functions honestly and with dedication.

The petitioner said the IHC chief justice had begun giving him administrative duties soon after his elevation to the bench.

He claimed that he had annulled some illegal appointments made to the high court and district judiciary annoying ‘influential figures’ and some Judicial Commission members, including chairman.

Muazzam Butt, lawyer for the petitioner, called for the examination of the commission’s all records on the decision about his client.

He said former IHC registrar Atiqur Rehman, who was allegedly very close to the Judicial Commission’s chairman, was transferred from the office of the registrar by the IHC chief justice.

The lawyer added that the registrar had approached the Judicial Commission for the cancellation of his transfer order but the request of the commission’s chairman was rejected by the IHC chief justice.

He said apart from the registrar and another IHC judge, the development also annoyed the Judicial Commission’s chairman and that it was falsely attributed to the petitioner.

The lawyer said the transfer of the registrar exposed numerous illegal appointments made to the high court and district judiciary prior to the elevation of his client, while certain appointments were made later on the insistence of influential entities.

He claimed that a Judicial Commission meeting was convened on Oct 22, 2012, wherein a junior IHC judge was also invited to ‘charge and malign’ his client.

The lawyer said the career of his client was purposely destroyed as he was not considered for confirmation as the IHC judge without justification and in spite of his meritorious vocational record.

Published in Dawn, May 3rd, 2017