ISLAMABAD   -   Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Tuesday rejected any plan to appoint four retired judges as ad hoc members of the Supreme Court (SC), saying that move is aimed at reversing the ruling of the apex court declaring the party eligible for seats reserved for women and minorities in the parliament. “The move to appoint ad hoc judges and that too four judges at once and during vacation, is uncalled for and is unprecedented,” said PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

Gohar said that the appointment of retired judges as ad hoc members would not reduce the cases burden but would rather compromise the entire SC and its judges. There is also a genuine apprehension that the move is aimed at reversing the judgment on PTI reserved seats and its standing as a party. “CJ should avoid judicial controversies at such a critical time,” he said.

The chairman PTI recalled that no ad hoc judge had been appointed in the SC since 2015. It was decided in principle that “adhocism” is prejudicial to the “independent judiciary”, he added.

In a separate statement, PTI Secretary General Omar Ayub Khan said that the decision to appoint ad hoc judges was nothing but a new ‘ploy’ by CJP Isa to ‘fix’ the bench. He added that those four retired judges, who have been offered to be appointed as ad hoc members, should decline the offer or else the nation would remember them as ‘rubber stamps’.

Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly Omar Ayub underlined that ad hoc judges would not be able to even make a noticeable dent in the backlog of over 54,000 cases. “Using the ‘backlog’ is just an excuse. Target is something else,” he added.

A spokesperson of the PTI also said that the party would strongly resist all attempts to make the SC a “one-man show” through the appointment of ad hoc judges.

The spokesperson said that the appointment of ad hoc judges was an attempt to destroy the real structure of the SC only to gain artificial numerical superiority, hoping the principled and righteous judges would decline the offer and would not be part of the plan to ruin the judiciary.