KARACHI: Bar challenges SPSC power to appoint subordinate judiciary
KARACHI, Dec 12: A Sindh High Court division bench headed by its chief justice will hear on Dec 16 a petition moved by the SHC Bar Association for annulment of the new judicial service rules that transfer the authority to appoint judicial officers from a selection board of high court judges to the provincial public service commission.
The petition was filed on Friday by SHCBA president Rasheed A. Razvi and secretary Muneerur Rehman in pursuance of an SHCBA managing committee resolution. It said the provincial government issued a notification on Dec 4 to amend Rules 2 and 5 of the Sindh Judicial Service Rules, 1994, to empower the Sindh Public Service Commission to select judicial officers in place of the existing selection board consisting of high court judges.
The Constitution, the petition said, was based on trichotomy and separation of legislative, executive and judicial power. Independence of the judiciary was essential to constitutional rule and governance. It was in pursuance of this principle that the Supreme Court ordered separation of judicial and executive magistracies in the Sharaf Faridi case of 1994. The Al Jehad Trust case of 1996 dealt with appointment of superior court judges but its rationale was applicable to the members of the subordinate judiciary. The SC held in the 1994 case that “any provision in any Act or any rule or a notification empowering any executive functionary to have administrative supervision and control over the subordinate judiciary will be violative of Article 203 of the Constitution.”
The petition pointed out that the SPSC members did not enjoy constitutional tenure and selection of judicial officers by the commission, besides being repugnant to the provisions of the Constitution as interpreted by the Supreme Court, “would be fraught with grave dangers to the independence of the judiciary.”
The impugned amendments open the door to appointments on political considerations. There was no complaint against the existing selection board and no other province had entrusted the function to its public service commission. “The impugned notification is mala fide as the provincial government intends to appoint party loyalists as judicial officers,” the petition said.
As for the association’s competence as a petitioner, the petition said it was obliged by its memorandum and articles of association and the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Rules to uphold the cause of the independence of the judiciary.
Order reserved
A district and sessions judge on Friday reserved his order till Saturday on an application for a better class in jail filed by suspects in a money laundering case.
The Federal Investigation Agency had arrested Abdul Munaf Kalia, his younger brother, Hanif Kalia, and Javed Khanani for their alleged involvement in illegally transferring billions of dollars from Pakistan. Later, they were remanded in judicial custody.The suspects were booked in a case (76/08) under Sections 5/8, 22/23 of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947 read with Sections 7, 8 & 20 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance, 2007 and Sections 420, 467, 471, 477-A of the Pakistan Penal Code at the FIA crimes circle, Karachi. The FIA Lahore had also lodged a separate case against them under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947 and the Pakistan Penal Code.
The suspects’ counsel, Shaukat Hayat, filed another application in the court on Friday maintaining that the jail authorities had barred him from meeting his clients which was the violation of the rights of the suspects.
The District and Sessions Judge, Mohammad Faheem Siddiqui, reserved the order on the application for Saturday (today).
Meanwhile, the special judge of the banking court adjourned till Dec 16 the hearing of another application of the suspects for the supply of copies of statements and documents of the case.
Their counsel argued that the FIA had produced no documentary evidence against his clients except the charge-sheet and requested the court to direct the authority concerned to provide the copies of all the evidence to the suspects.
Remand
The administrative judge of the anti-terrorism courts, Karachi, on Friday remanded an alleged kidnapper in judicial custody till Dec 26.
The suspect, Amjad, is accused of kidnapping a six-year-old boy, Safiullah, in the limits of Mominabad police station on Oct 24 for a ransom of Rs500,000. He took the boy to Swat where the boy was released through a Jirga. Later, a police team arrested the suspect in Mominabad area on Nov 29.