The lawyers’ bodies have made arrangements for All Pakistan Lawyers Convention on Thursday in front of the Supreme Court to record their protest against elevation of Justice Ayesha to the Supreme Court.
ISLAMABAD: (UrduPoint/Pakistan Point News-Sept 7th, 2021) The different lawyer bodies decided to lodge protest against elevation of LHC female judge to the Supreme Court on Sept 9 (Thursday).
The lawyers will hold protest at a convention in front of the Supreme Court.
The convention coincides with a meeting of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) which is to consider the elevation of Justice Ayesha Malik to the apex court.
The lawyers feel elevation of Justice Ayesha A Malik of the Lahore High Court to the apex court as violation of the seniority principle.
The appeal was made after a joint meeting of Pakistan Bar Council (PBC), the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), the Islamabad Bar Council and the high court bar associations at the PBC office on Monday.
The lawyers bodes also finalized arrangements for All Pakistan Lawyers Convention.
During the meeting, the lawyers condemned the passage of a bill by the National Assembly regarding amendments to the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Act, 1973, by inserting a provision — Section 5D — in the act that was against the “basic structure of the Constitution” as well as a “gross violation of parliamentary norms and democratic principles,”.
The committee decided to challenge the amendment through “all lawful means available”.
Akhtar Hussain, a senior member of the PBC who represents the council in JCP meetings, criticised the commission for ignoring the seniority principle for elevation of high court judges to the Supreme Court.
Mr. Akhtar argued that since the rules relating to the appointment of judges were silent on apportioning a quota to any province or a particular high court, it was not necessary that judges were selected for elevation to the Supreme Court from a particular high court. He said instead a judge could be chosen from any high court, suggesting that Justice Athar Minallah, the Islamabad High Court’s Chief Justice, be elevated to the apex court since he was the country’s most senior high court judge.
Akhtar Hussain wondered why was Justice Mussarat Hilali, fourth in the Peshawar High Court’s seniority list, not considered while referring to the elevation of a woman judge to the Supreme Court.
