IHC reserves ruling on maintainability of plea challenging presidential delay in judicial appointments

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday reserved its verdict on the maintainability of a plea challenging President Asif Ali Zardari’s delay in approving a summary for the appointment and confirmation of judges to various high courts.

The writ petition, filed by advocate Luqman Zafar Chaudhary through his counsel Zahid Asif Chaudhry on Wednesday, urged the court to direct the president to approve the summary forwarded by the prime minister for the appointment of 19 additional judges and the confirmation of five judges to the Islamabad, Lahore, Sindh, Balochistan and Peshawar high courts.

Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir took up the plea on Thursday, with the counsel for the petitioner arguing that the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) had recommended the appointments under consideration during its meetings on July 20 and 21. He contended that the summary had reportedly not been approved by the president even after 15 days had passed.

The petitioner’s counsel told the court that according to the available information, the government had started issuing notifications regarding the appointments. He also requested the court to seek details about the status of the summary.

During the hearing, the contents of the petition he had filed on his client’s behalf were also read out on the court’s direction, and Justice Tahir repeatedly questioned if a constitutional petition could be maintained against the president. He asked the counsel to cite any precedent in which a writ had been issued against the president.

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