Why the need for ad hoc judges in the Supreme Court after eight years?

Supreme Court Possibly four ad hoc Judges on July 19 for consideration of the appointment of Judicial Commission A meeting has been called.

According to judicial officials, ad hoc judges are being appointed to deal with pending cases.

According to information received from government officials, the names of Justice Retired Mushir Alam, Justice Retired Maqbool Baqir, Justice Retired Mazhar Alam Mian Khel and Justice Retired Sardar Tariq Masood are being considered for ad hoc judges.

At present 58 thousand 479 cases are awaiting decisions in the Supreme Court. According to the details of cases pending in the Supreme Court as on June 30, 2024, 31 thousand 944 appeals once morest the judgments of the High Courts are awaiting decision on whether they are hearable or not, the number of criminal appeals has crossed 10 thousand when That even one of the pending three thousand 324 prison petitions might not be decided.

According to the quarterly report released in January 2024, the number of pending cases was 55 thousand 971.

In April 2024, this number increased to 58 thousand 207, but by June 30, instead of decreasing, this number has increased to 58 thousand 479.

How are temporary or ad hoc judges appointed according to the constitution?

According to Article 181 and Article 182 of the Constitution, temporary and ad hoc judges can be appointed to the Supreme Court.

According to Article 181: ‘When the seat of a judge in the Supreme Court is vacant or a judge of the Supreme Court is not available for any reason to perform the duties, the President of the State appoints a judge of the High Court who is qualified to be appointed to the Supreme Court. They can be appointed temporarily to fill the shortage of judges in the Supreme Court.

A retired High Court judge can also be temporarily appointed to the Supreme Court under Article 181. Temporary judges remain appointed until the President withdraws his order.

For example, in the past, Justice SA Rehman, who was a judge of the Lahore High Court, was appointed as a temporary judge in the high court for regarding three months in 1955.

Similarly, Justice Naseem Hasan Shah was appointed as a temporary judge in the Supreme Court from the Lahore High Court in 1977 for two years.

Justice Shafiur Rahman of the Lahore High Court was appointed as a temporary judge of the High Court in 1979 for two years.

Justice Fakhruddin Ji Ibrahim was appointed by the Sindh High Court in 1980 as a temporary judge of the High Court for one year.

Lahore High Court judge Justice Saad Saud Jan was appointed as a temporary judge of the High Court in October 1986 for five months while Sindh High Court Justice Nasir Aslam Zahid was appointed as a temporary judge of the Supreme Court on January 28, 1991. Judge was appointed.

Under Article 182 of the Constitution, a retired judge of the Supreme Court can be appointed to the Supreme Court as an ad hoc judge, provided the judge’s retirement is for three years or less.

An ad hoc judge will have the same discretionary powers as a sitting judge of the Supreme Court.

For an ad hoc judge, the number of 17 judges of the Supreme Court must be complete and even if it is intended to increase the number of judges, the ad hoc judge is appointed with the approval of the Judicial Commission.

For example, in the past, Justice Ghulam Rabbani served as a permanent judge of the Supreme Court till 2009 and was then appointed as an ad hoc judge till 2011.

Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramde retired from the Supreme Court in January 2010 but was appointed as an ad hoc judge in February 2010 for one year.

Justice Khalji Arif and Justice Tariq Pervaiz were also appointed as ad hoc judges under Article 182.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawyers have expressed their apprehensions over the possible appointment of ad-hoc judges.

Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan while talking to the media expressed concern that ‘the purpose of this move is related to the specific seats of PTI, so the Chief Justice should avoid court disputes at such a critical time. .’

Barrister Gauhar further said that there is no precedent for the simultaneous appointment of four ad hoc judges in the Supreme Court. No ad hoc judge has been appointed to the Supreme Court since 2015. This will not reduce the burden of cases but compromise the Supreme Court and judges.

On the other hand, the leader of the ruling party Pakistan Muslim League-N, Talal Chaudhry, said in a Geo News program yesterday that the decision regarding the appointment of ad-hoc judges will be taken by the Supreme Judicial Council and the appointment of ad-hoc judges is not a collusion.

Senior advocate of the Supreme Court, Ahsan Bhawan, said that the principled stand of the bar has been that we have never supported the appointment of ad hoc judges.

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According to him: ‘Article 181 and 182 support the appointment of temporary ad hoc judges, but only those who appoint them know the purpose of appointing judges, but I personally do not see any political purpose in it.

“As far as the PTI is concerned, ad hoc judges are being appointed to influence the decision of specific seats, I will not support that in the decision of specific seats, 11 judges supported giving seats to PTI. , eight decided 100 percent in his favor while three of the remaining five judges have the same opinion.

Continuing the discussion, Ahsan Bhawan said that Justice Yahya Afridi said that he dismissed the appeal but the seats should be given to PTI. TI had written that they should be given PTI seats and those who wrote Sunni Ittehad Council should be given their seats then this is also support. Therefore, ad hoc judges will not make a difference in the decision of the case of specific seats.’

According to former PTI leader and Supreme Court lawyer Fawad Chaudhry: ‘The general impression is that the Chief Justice wants to gain control by appointing like-minded judges as ad hoc judges. These four potential ad hoc judges supported him in the reference once morest Qazi Faiz Isa.

He further said that as a lawyer, I would say that to reduce the number of cases, it is not related to increasing the number of judges of the Supreme Court, but the decisions of the Supreme Court must be implemented.

“Domestic cases, inheritance cases should not go to the Supreme Court and the High Court so as not to create a backlog.”

The role of ad hoc judges in the most important cases in judicial history?

Eight years ago, Justice Khalji Arif Hussain and Justice Tariq Pervez were appointed as ad hoc judges of the Supreme Court for one year.

Justice Khalji Arif was a permanent judge of the High Court from September 9, 2009 to April 12, 2014 and following his retirement was appointed as a temporary judge from December 14, 2015 to December 13, 2016 while Justice Tariq Pervez was appointed as a judge from October 20, 2009. Served as a permanent judge of the Supreme Court till February 14, 2013 and following retirement was also appointed as ad hoc judge from December 13, 2015 to December 13, 2016.

A total of 22 ad hoc judges were appointed in the Supreme Court from 1955 to 2016 at various times.

Some of the ad hoc judges were also part of some of the most important cases in history. For example, ad-hoc judge Justice Naseem Hasan Shah was part of the bench that upheld former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s death sentence by four-three.

Similarly, Justice Khalilur Rahman Ramde, who was appointed ad hoc judge in 2010 for one year following retirement.

He also headed the 13-member bench that reinstated Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.