Senate body approves bid for more Islamabad court judges

It has been revealed that there are more than 18,000 cases pending adjudication at the Islamabad High Court

The Senate Standing Committee on Law and Justice has cleared the government’s bill to increase the number of judges for the Islamabad High Court (IHC) from seven to 10.

The committee, however, rejected the proposal to appoint local judges instead of induction from other provinces and territories in the court.

The bill tabled by the law ministry proposed that, owing to the increase of cases in the IHC, the sanctioned posts of judges be increased.

Last month, Islamabad High Court Bar Association president Raja Inam Ameen Minhas had informed the committee that there are only four judges in the

IHC against seven sanctioned posts.

There are over 18,000 cases pending adjudication in the court, he said.

The Islamabad High Court Bar Council and Islamabad High Court Bar Association supported the bill, but called for increasing the number of judges to 11 and appointing the judges only from Islamabad.

Minister for Law and Justice Dr Farogh Nasim last month had given an undertaking to amend the bill in order to exclude lawyers practicing in other provinces from the vacant positions of the IHC judges.

Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar supported the demand of lawyers for the appointment of local judges in the IHC.

Committee chairman Mohamed Javed Abbasi also agreed on the proposal and said an aspirant for the judge’s slot may not be the local but they should be a practising lawyer in the IHC.

However Senator Farooq H Naek opposed the proposal, and said that since the bill was introduced by the government, it could either be rejected or cleared it as it is.

He suggested that in case a lawmaker thinks that judges of the IHC must be appointed from the local bar, they could move the proposal as a private member bill.

The committee then unanimously approved the bill to increase the strength of the judges.

The committee also considered bills introduced by Senator Rehman Malik to specify the appointments of members in the Capital Development Authority (CDA) board and inducting civil servants in it.

Senator Naek opposed the bill, saying that the law is clear and the government can appoint either civil servants or professionals as members of the CDA board.

He said that instead of civil servants, the board members should be architects, town planners and engineers to maintain beauty of the federal capital.

Malik then withdrew the bill, but said he would table it again after fine-tuning it.

The committee also considered a bill introduced by the committee chairman Abbasi to establish new benches of the provincial high courts to facilitate people living in far-flung areas.

He proposed an amendment to Article 198 of the Constitution for creation of new benches of the high courts.

Abbasi asked the law ministry to increase the sanctioned posts of judges in the provincial high courts since the number of pending cases was increasing gradually.

The committee cleared the bill as well.

While the currently sanctioned strength of the Islamabad High Court is seven, there are only four judges at present