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Taseers meddling costs many lawyers
http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=24761
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
a chance to become judges
By Ansar Abbasi
ISLAMABAD: Competent and senior lawyers, who could have become new judges of the Lahore High Court, lost their chance because they went in for interviews with the Governor of the Punjab, Salmaan Taseer, which is not required under the rules, officials have confirmed.
Punjab Governor Taseers recent poking of nose into the appointment of judges for the Lahore High Court marred the chances of a few otherwise professionally competent candidates for the reason that they had gone to the governor for personal interviews to ensure their selection.
Sources in the federal law ministry said all those candidates who had met the governor for interview on Taseers initiative and cleared by the governor, were neither recommended by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry nor appointed by President Asif Ali Zardari.
Neither there is any provision in the Constitution or in the law or is reflected in the Al-Jehad Trust case to justify what Governor Taseer did nor there was any such precedent where any past governor had conducted interviews of candidates for judges of the superior judiciary.
Interestingly, those dropped include a brother-in-law of one of the senior-most and reputed judges of the Supreme Court.
A senior official of the Governors Office when contacted confirmed that all those interviewed by Taseer were not appointed as additional judges. According to the Law Ministry sources, at least five of over 30 nominees of the Lahore High Court Chief Justice for the posts of additional judges in the LHC had appeared before the governor after the latter called them for interview.
The Punjab governor was only supposed to give his view on the suitability of the provincial Chief Justices nominees on the basis of ground check by the intelligence agencies. But Taseer overstepped his role by inviting the candidates for an interview.
According to a Law Ministry source, all those recommended by the CJ LHC were contacted by the federal government to ascertain as to who among them had gone to the governors office and found out that five candidates, including two sessions judges, had appeared before Taseer.
The Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, did not recommend these candidates while President Asif Ali Zardari honoured the CJs advice and did not appoint any of those who had appeared before his chosen governor in the Punjab. Previously also, the Punjab governor in the process of judges appointment, had overstepped when out of the blue he recommended the names of several lawyers to the CJ LHC for the latters consideration. But the CJ LHC Justice Khawaja Muhammad Sharif formally told Taseer that the latter had violated the Constitution by recommending to the former names for the appointment of judges.
In a formal communication addressed to the Punjab governor, the LHC chief justice also observed that it becomes a disqualification for a member of the legal fraternity if he either approaches the executive or shows his desire to be appointed as judge of the superior judiciary. All those recommended by the governor were lawyers belonging to the Pakistan Peoples Party. The governor was clearly told by the LHC CJ that to initiate the proposal and to make recommendations for judgeship by the governor was not only against the Constitution but also contrary to the prevalent practice.
