Islamabad:
The Pakistan Judicial Commission approved the appointment of 10 additional judges for the High Court of Peshawar (PHC) with a majority vote.
The decision, made at a meeting of the commission chaired by the chief judge of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi, includes the appointment of two district and sessions, Farah Jamshed and Inamullah Khan, among others.
According to sources, seven of the approved appointments were presented by the chief judge Ishtiaq Ibrahim, while each was recommended by the federal minister of law Azam Nazeer Tarar, the senator Farooq H Naek and the representative of the Bar Council ( PBC) AKHTAR HUSSAIN.
The agenda of the meeting initially included the appointment of nine additional judges, but the CJ of PHC, the judge Ishtiaq Ibrahim, argued during the session that 10 judges were necessary.
The CJP Yahya Afridi has approved its point of view, leading to the selection of 10 candidates on the 40 appointments received.
Three members of the commission opposed the gap in relation to the initial agenda, arguing that on January 18, appointments were requested for nine additional judges and that the appointments should follow the predetermined calendar.
A member warned against the creation of a precedent who could disrupt future appointment processes.
The newly appointed judges include the lawyer Muhammad Tariq Afridi, Abdul Fayyaz, Sabitullah Khan, Salahuddin, Sadiq Ali, Syed Mudasser Ameer, Aurangzeb and Qazi Jawad Ehsanullah.
The official declaration of the Commission said that candidates who have not obtained a majority vote could be reconsidered for future judicial appointments. The CJP Afridi also expressed its gratitude to the Punjab Information Technology Board for helping the members of the Commission via its web portal.
Sources have revealed that none of the appointments presented by the members of the Commission affiliated to the PTI-Affilié or the Minister of the Provincial Act has obtained a majority vote, which did not give rise to additional judge appointments their recommendations.
With the approval of these appointments, the number of judges before the High Court of Peshawar will reach 23 years. The court, which currently has 13 judges, is struggling with more than 40,000 matters pending. New appointments should help accelerate cases of cases.
Meanwhile, the Commission should meet again on February 10 to deliberate on the appointment of eight new judges of the Supreme Court.
KP AAG leaves
In a related development, Syed Kausar Ali Shah resigned from his post as an additional defender general (AAG) of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), citing the biases of the JCP.
“The main reason for the resignation is the discrimination that I have endured from the JCP, due to the non-assistance of an affidavit of resignation of my members with Pakistan Tehreek-E-insaf (PTI),” wrote the ‘Former AAG in his resignation submitted to KP the chief minister Ali Amin Gandapur.
Sources said that Shah, supported by PTI, resigned after being neglected for the post of additional judge in the PHC.
“As a result, I no longer wish to continue my services under the current government regime,” he added. In his letter, he thanked the founder of PTI, Imran Khan, for giving him the opportunities that “shaped his professional trip”.