Should ad hoc judges be appointed? Legal expert Shah Khawar's Analysis

ARY NEWS

#supremecourt #adhoc #pti #imrankhan #reservedseats #pmlngovt #salmanakramraja #shahkhawar #meherbukhari   Should ad hoc judges be appointed? Legal expert Shah Khawar's Analysis

Transcript

00:00They are talking about conspiracy and timing, we have seen in the past that ad hoc judges come for a year

00:07but here they say 3 years from the Chief Justice and then afloat their name before taking it into consultation in the Judicial Commission.

00:16Are you seeing this conspiracy?

00:18Look, I see it from a different angle.

00:21Actually, the political situation has become so polarized and divided that even if someone takes a step with good intentions,

00:31it will be seen from the point of view of doubt, it will be seen from a political angle.

00:35And sir, mind you, due to these controversies, Mr. Shah Khawar could not keep himself safe. Do you agree to that?

00:41Look, I have a different point of view.

00:45Look, it is also being said that the minority is being tried to turn into the majority.

00:50Where is the majority in the Supreme Court in the High Court?

00:53Look, if you talk about the minority and the majority,

00:57if you say that Qazi Faiz Isa and those 4 judges were against the PTI and were close to the establishment,

01:04and the rest were very supportive of the PTI,

01:08then will you call those 8 judges the judge of the PTI and call others the minority?

01:13Leave aside the minority and the majority.

01:16Do not impose politics on the institutions.

01:19It is very simple.

01:21Let me tell you about Sardar Tariq Masood.

01:25In his time, as long as he was a judge, he used to head an army bench and he used to decide dozens of cases in a day.

01:34And after he left, a vacuum was created.

01:36Because at the moment, there is no expert judge in the army.

01:41And keeping this in mind, 2-3 months ago,

01:45or rather 2-2.5 months ago, we were hearing about this,

01:49that Sardar Tariq and other judges are being requested to come as an ad hoc judge and end the backlog.

01:56But unfortunately, the list that has come, or the proposal that has come to the Judicial Commission,

02:01has come at a time when our country is at the brink of division.

02:05It is evident that the Supreme Court is also at the brink of division.

02:09I say that this is a timing coincidence.

02:12But I would even say that there should be not 4, not 8, but 10 ad hoc judges in the Supreme Court.

02:19We have more than 58,000 pendency.

02:22And the time that we consume is in cases of political nature.

02:26I will not only say this, but I will also say that to end the backlog in the High Courts,

02:32you still have provisions there.

02:35Even if the constitutional strength of the High Court is complete,

02:40you can keep additional judges for 1-2-3 years, so that it can end the backlog.

02:47People are very worried.

02:49People's military cases, death penalty prisoners have been waiting for their fate for many years.

02:56Similarly, there are civilian cases.

02:58So I think we have to look at rational things.

03:01I would say that you should postpone it.

03:04But Mansoor Ali Shah, the Chief Justice, should come.

03:07I would also recommend him to make ad hoc judges to end this backlog.

03:12And don't look at it with doubtful eyes.

03:15So you don't see any controversy in the timing?

03:18No, I don't think there is any bad faith in this.

03:21There is good faith.

03:22If there was bad faith and they didn't give their rationality to the majority,

03:27Mr. Shah Khawar, do you think there should be any condition on this?

03:32Because all the Bars have stood up.

03:34Look, there is also division in the Bars.

03:36Today, the Pakistan Bar Council is separate.

03:39Look, unfortunately, the Bar Association and Bar Councils are considered non-partisan.

03:46They are also victims of political division.

03:48Now let me tell you an honest thing.

03:50The thing is that if these four judges were brought in to change their rationality to the majority,

03:57then why did two judges decline them?

04:00They declined them bona fide.

04:02Because one judge is running a trust and the other is also busy.

04:06And they have said that being an ad hoc judge is a requirement,

04:12it is a regular procedure, there is no mistake in it.

04:15So I don't think it is right to create so much hype.

04:18But I will present before you a little bit of a background of their details.

04:49Look, let me tell you one thing.

04:52The thing is that as far as the legal provision is concerned, it is there.

04:55Yes, it is definitely there.

04:57As I said earlier, because there is a lot of political tension at the moment.

05:01The division is clearly visible in the institutions, including the judiciary and the Supreme Court.

05:06In that, I am saying that even if it is done with good intentions,

05:10it will be seen from the point of view of suspicion.

05:13So I am giving importance to the fact that being an ad hoc judge is not as bad as you are portraying it.

05:22But you cannot break it apart from the political situation.

05:26You tell me, what will the two judges do?

05:30How much difference will they make?

05:32Look, if there is a review on the decision of the special sessions,

05:38then the review will be heard by the eight judges who have decided.

05:41These additional ad hoc judges have nothing to do with it.

05:44None of them will sit.

05:46And the second thing is that…

05:47Mr. Shah Khawar will not sit?

05:48None of them will sit.

05:50Look, the second thing is that Justice Manzoor Ali Shah is coming in October.

05:56The formation of benches and making a roster is the job of the Chief Justice.

06:00Do not make them sit in the case of importance.

06:03Keep them only up to the previous backlog.

06:08If these two judges want to come or the Judicial Commission makes them,

06:14then I think that thousands of cases will be solved in four months.

06:18Look at the prisoner whose appeal is for death penalty.

06:22If 500 appeals are adjudicated in 2-3 months, then it will benefit the public.

06:33So, we should not look at everything with suspicion.

06:36We should not create hype on things.

06:38In fact, today, Azam Nazeer Tarar, our colleague,

06:41when he was doing a press conference, I messaged him.

06:44I told him to announce that we will appoint additional judges in the backlog in the High Courts.

06:51Why these four judges, Mr. Shah Khawar?

06:54Why these four judges?

06:55Mr. Sajjad Ali Shah, Mr. Mazhar Alamia, Mr. Ijaz-ul-Ahsan,

06:58Mr. Manzoor Ahmed Malik, Mr. Maqbool Bakar, Mr. Musheer Alam, Mr. Iqbal Hameed,

07:03Mr. Mazhar Ali Akbar, Mr. Naqvi, why only these four judges?

07:06Let me tell you.

07:07The qualification of these judges is that they can become judges of the Supreme Court

07:13who have not been retired in the last three years.

07:16I have told you this list from them.

07:18Tell me from them.

07:19I think that the judges who are available among them should also be brought.

07:22Why these four judges, sir?

07:24This can be the wisdom of the Judicial Commission.

07:27I am not aware of it.

07:29But it is certain that two of them, Mr. Mazhar Alamia Khel…

07:35He has apologized.

07:36No, no, I am talking about Mr. Mazhar Alamia Khel.

07:39Justice Tariq Masood, he is an expert in military cases.

07:43And we can see the logic in that why he was told.

07:46The rest of you who are talking about something, they have already resigned.

07:50So I don't think they will like to come.

07:52So two of them have resigned.

07:54In which Justice Azul Ahsan was going to become the Chief Justice.

07:57Justice Manzoor is a member of JC already.

08:00So I think that this concept is not bad.

08:03It is just the timing that has made this whole process suspicious.

08:07I think there is no need to create so much hype in this.

Category

Transcript

Recommended