PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Thursday dismissed two identical petitions of around 80 civil judges seeking participation in the examination for vacant posts of additional district and sessions judges to be filled by practicing lawyers.

A bench comprising Justice Irshad Qaisar and Justice Mohammad Daud Khan pronounced a short order of the dismissal of petitions filed by civil judges Abid Zaman, Asmatullah Wazir and several others after completion of arguments by counsel for the petitioners and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council.

The petitioners had challenged the relevant rules of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Judicial Services Rules 2001 through which quota was specified for the serving senior civil judges and lawyers for the seats of additional district and sessions judges (ADSJs).

The counsel for petitioners said Rule 5(C) of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Judicial Services Rules 2001 provided for direct recruitment for the posts of ADSJs. They said according to the said rule, not less than two-thirds of the ADSJ posts should be filled through promotion, on recommendation of departmental promotion committee and from among the holders of posts of senior civil judges-cum-judicial magistrates.

Civil judges had challenged their and lawyers’ quota for sessions judge vacancies

The counsel said the said rule provided that not more than one-third of the ADSJ seats should be filled through direct recruitment from among bar members, public prosecutors, government pleaders and additional public prosecutors.

They said few months ago, the PHC registrar advertised 25 posts of ADSJs to seek applications for them.

The counsel said the criteria provided for applicants were that they should be practicing lawyers with at least eight years experience in profession.

They pointed out that recently, the Lahore, Islamabad and Sindh high courts advertised ADSJ posts but didn’t stop judicial officers from applying for them.

The counsel said Rule 5 of the Services Rules was a violation of Article 27 of the Constitution as it discriminated against petitioners. They said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Judicial Services Rules 2001 were inconsistent with such rules in other provinces.

Ijaz Khan Sabi, lawyer for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council, said two-thirds of the seats were filled through judicial officers and only one-third through lawyers and that it would be an injustice with the latter if judicial officers, too, were allowed to compete for the quota specified of lawyers.

He pointed out that there were 5,052 lawyers in the province, who were eligible to apply for the 25 vacant posts, whereas there were only 180 judicial officers for 50 posts of ADSJs. The lawyer said if petitioners were so fond of participating in the examinations, they should resign from their posts to sit them.

Sabi said it was the job of the legislature to make amendments to the relevant law and rules to keep the posts in question open for all categories. He said on same analogy, if judicial officers wanted to do away with the one-third quota of lawyers, then two-thirds reserved for promotion of judicial officers should also be filled through open merit.

Published in Dawn, June 5th, 2015

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