The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has declared that it will be moving the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) to convey its complaints about ad hoc justices, citing the appointment of retired judges to the Supreme Court as detrimental to the independence of the judiciary.
Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa and Chairman of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) allegedly suggested earlier this week that retired judges be appointed to the Supreme Court in order to shorten the backlog of cases pending before the highest court.
PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Khan called the decision “malafide” and warned journalists in Islamabad on Thursday that “ad hoc judges are hazardous for independent judiciary.”
The politician turned lawyer stated that the judges shouldn’t stir up controversy over the case.
Omar Ayub Khan, the secretary-general of the PTI, stated that the 56,000 cases would not be resolved.
He claimed it was an effort to assemble a group of judges with similar views.
Political workers and the legal community, according to Ayub, disagreed with the ruling. Additionally, he argued against sending their cases to ad hoc judges in his appeal to CJP Isa.
The PTI’s response coincided with the announcement that CJP Isa’s JCP would convene this Friday (tomorrow) to discuss the appointment of four retired judges to the top court.
“Given the enormous volume of cases that are pending and the trend toward more cases being instituted in the SC, it would be appropriate to appoint experienced judges as a means of ensuring that more cases are decided than instituted and to decrease, and ideally eliminate, the cases that are pending adjudication for several years.”
