CJP nominates Shariat court top judge

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar has nominated Justice Sheikh Najmul Hassan as new the chief justice Federal Shariat Court (FSC), sources told The Express Tribune.

The incumbent FSC CJ Riaz Ahmad Khan is set to retire next month.

Sources revealed that the chief justice has summoned a meeting of Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) on April 19 to consider the appointment of the new top judge for the Federal Shariat Court. Presently, Justice Sheikh Najmul Hasan was reappointed in 2014. Total 637 cases were pending in FSC on March 31.

An important meeting of the Pakistan Bar Council is going to be held on April 15, wherein the council members will nominate new representative in JCP in terms of Article 175A of the Constitution as well as consideration of the matter regarding transparency in the process of nomination for appointment of judges in the high courts.

Presently, Yasin Azad is the PBC’s representative in JCP, whose tenure is ending next month. Since the formation of commission on superior courts judges’ appointment, Azad has represented the superior bar in JCP since 2010.

It is learnt that Asma Jahangir’s group, who has a majority by one vote in PBC, is likely to nominate senior lawyer Yousaf Laghari as the new representative of the apex body of lawyers in the commission.

Meanwhile, Hamid Khan’s group members have contacted Akram Sheikh for nominating him as new bar’s representative.

The capital lawyers are demanding for the appointment of a local lawyer as a judge of the Federal Shariat Court (FSC). However, FSC law is silent on ‘accommodating’ persons from specific territories.

Islamabad High Court Bar Association Secretary General Mohammad Waqas Malik says that since the FSC is located in Islamabad and several Islamabad-based lawyers plead their cases here, the court should appoint a local lawyer as its judge.

Dr Mohammad Aslam Khaki, a jurist consultant of the FSC, said unlike the IHC, FSC rules were silent over the region-specific appointments.

“If the local lawyers want a seat on the FSC, they need to take up the matter with the legislators to get the FSC rules amended,” he said. The FSC is a constitutional court and there is no provision which can entitle a local lawyer to any vacant seat, he added.

Established in 1980, currently the FSC has five judges. Chief Justice Riaz Ahmed Khan had worked as the senior judge in the IHC on the quota of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

Justice Fida Mohammad has been working in FSC for three decades. Earlier, he served in Pakistan Air Force. He is a religious scholar.

Sheikh Najmul Hassan is the third judge and prior to his appointment in FSC, he was working in the Lahore High Court (LHC).

Justice Zahoor Ahmed Shahwani belongs to Balochistan and remained the prosecutor general of the province prior to his induction in FSC.

Source: The Express Tribune