The Supreme Court on Friday directed the president to issue notifications for the permanent appointment of Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui and for the extension in the tenure of Justice Noorul Haq N. Qureshi.
The ruling was issued by a four-member bench of the apex court comprising Justice Khilji Arif Hussain, Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry and Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan over a constitutional petition filed by Advocate Nadeem Ahmed.
The petition had sought issuance of a notification about a six months’ extension for Justice Qureshi and the permanent appointment of Justice Siddiqui of the IHC. In his petition, Advocate Ahmed had argued that all constitutional formalities, as laid down in Article 175A of the Constitution, had been completed for extension in the term of office and for confirmation as judge of the IHC during the past one month.
The court ordered that Justice Siddiqui of the IHC be made permanent and directed the president to issue a notification for a six months’ extension in the tenure of Justice Qureshi, an additional judge at the IHC.
In its short order, the SC has ordered to issue the notification of the appointment of two judges including Justice Shaukat Siddiqui and Justice Noorul Haq Qureshi. The judgment further stated that the appointment of the two judges will be considered effective from November 20, 2012.
The president had also filed a reference regarding the appointment of judges in higher judiciary that was not discussed in the judgment.
Through the reference, the president desired to seek the opinion on the questions of law, considered by him to be of public importance, in respect of appointment of the Judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts in view of the 18th and 19th Constitutional Amendments.
The 31-page reference raised 13 questions that were related to the role of judicial commission and a bipartisan parliamentary committee in the appointment of judges.