LAHORE: Ten additional judges of the Lahore High Court (LHC) took their oath on Tuesday, hours after President Asif Ali Zardari gave his assent to the appointment of the judges, ending a weeks-long deadlock.
Chief Justice Aalia Neelum administered the oath to the newly appointed additional judges at a ceremony held at the LHC.
The newly sworn judges were Ghulam Sarwar Nihung, Muhammad Ajmal Khan Zahid, Aamir Ajam Malik, Shireen Imran, Asad Ali Bajwa, Muhammad Amjad Pervez, Khalid Ibn-i-Aziz, Munawar Iqbal Duggal, Syed Farhad Ali Shah and Muhammad Usman Ghani Rashid Cheema.
In addition, Justice Tariq Mahmood Bajwa took oath as a permanent judge of the LHC on completion of his probation period.
The new appointments were made for one year from the date of their oath.
Following the induction of the new judges, 10 vacancies still remain at the LHC against the constitutionally approved strength of 60 judges.
The vacant slots will increase to 11 next week with the retirement of Justice Shahid Karim.
Earlier in the day, President Zardari approved the appointment of 19 additional judges for five high courts, along with confirmation of another five as permanent judges.
The appointments were pending since July 20 and July 21, when the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) — the body responsible for appointing judges to the superior judiciary — recommended them.
The approvals follow a positive meeting between the legal teams of the Presidency and the federal government, with sources privy to the development describing the matter as “on its way to resolution”. Another meeting between the two legal teams was expected to be held in the coming days.
The oath-taking ceremony for the judges had been scheduled for July 27 but was indefinitely postponed after President Zardari neither accorded assent to the summary nor returned it for reconsideration, with the government maintaining there was no legal justification for keeping it pending.
The president’s legal team had raised certain objections to the JCP proceedings, noting that nearly all nominees proposed by the PPP were rejected. They had also conveyed that some candidates recommended for appointment had criminal records.
The delay prompted the federal government to even consider bypassing the president’s approval by invoking Article 48(1) of the Constitution, arguing that he was required to act on the summary within a fortnight of its submission, sources said.
However, government functionaries later maintained that with the matter now sub judice, notifications could not be issued at this stage. Sources had said the government’s legal team planned to pursue an “out-of-court” settlement with its counterparts at the Presidency.
