President Zardari approves the appointment of high court judges

 President Asif Ali Zardari has approved the appointment of additional judges to several high courts, along with the confirmation of some additional judges as permanent members of the judiciary.

The appointments have been approved for the high courts of Lahore, Sindh, Balochistan, Islambad and Peshawar. The president has also approved the confirmation of certain additional judges of the Sindh High Court (SHC) and Lahore High Court (LHC) as permanent judges.

In another decision, President Zardari approved measures to bring the salaries, allowances and pensions of Supreme Court judges in line with those of judges of the Federal Constitutional Court.

The president also approved amendments to the 1997 order concerning leave, pensions and other privileges of high court judges.

Separately, Haroon Akhtar has been approved for appointment as the Prime Minister’s Adviser on Industries and Production.

The decisions follow recommendations made during meetings of the Judicial Commission held on July 20 and 21. The commission had recommended the appointment of 19 additional judges. It had also recommended the confirmation of five additional judges as permanent judges and an extension for one judge.

A day earlier, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) has issued notices to the president and prime minister through their secretaries over the delay in approving a summary related to the appointment of new judges, seeking a response by tomorrow.

The notices were issued on a petition challenging President Asif Ali Zardari’s failure to approve the summary. The court also issued a notice to the Ministry of Law and sought its response by Tuesday.

The IHC questioned at what stage the summary was currently pending and sought clarification from the federal government regarding the delay.

The case was argued by Zaed Asif Chaudhry on behalf of petitioner Luqman Zafar. Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir expressed strong displeasure with the federal government during the hearing.

Addressing Additional Attorney General Rashid Hafeez, Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir questioned the federal government’s handling of the matter and asked whether it had any interest in resolving the issue.

The judge said the court had expected the federal government to fulfill its responsibility but that this had not happened.

Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir asked at what stage the summary was pending and whether the government had any information about it.