LAHORE: Four, out of 404, candidates passed a written examination for the posts of additional district & sessions judges (AD&SJs).

Lahore High Court Chief Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan announced the results at a ceremony on Friday with the members of the examination committee in attendance.

The successful candidates include Muzaffar Ali Anjum, Rahila Shahid, Rehman Yaqoob Irfani and Waris Ali.

Chief Justice Khan said the participation of women lawyers in the examinations remained very low, however, it was good that all stages of the examinations had been completed in a smooth and transparent manner.

“We hope the successful candidates after joining the judiciary would play a pivotal role in delivering best justice to the litigants,” he said.

Up to 668 lawyers applied for the posts of the AD&SJs while 404, including 40 women out of 654 eligible candidates, appeared in the examinations held from Oct 19 to Oct 27, 2020.

Five examination centers were set up across the province i- two in Lahore and one each in Multan, Bahawalpur and Rawalpindi.

Justice Sardar Ahmed Naeem further briefed that various steps were taken to make the examination process transparent. Foolproof security arrangements were made under the supervision of judges of the Lahore High Court for all the stages from preparation of question papers to delivery to examination centers.

In the last year’s results for the examination of civil judges-cum-judicial magistrates, 28 passed out of a total of 3,165 candidates.

Commenting on the pass percentage, senior lawyer Zafar Iqbal Kalanuri, who also teaches in a law college, said the makers of the new mechanism of the examination had an intention to not let the candidates pass it.

He said the syllabus of the examination was extensively irrelevant and an unnecessary focus had been put on English as a language.He opined that judges should not appoint judges.

The lawyer said the process of the judicial officers’ appointment should be outsourced like the same had been done through the Punjab Public Service Commission in the past.

A young lawyer should not be expected to perform like an experienced judge, he added.

Published in Dawn, March 13th, 2021