ISLAMABAD: The young guns of the legal fraternity are up in arms over not confirming the Lahore High Court (LHC) judge, Justice Mohammad Shan Gul, by the Supreme Judicial Commission (SJC).
The SJC headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Umar Ata Bandial on Wednesday recommended to regularise the services of 11 additional judges of LHC. The meeting decided to regularise the services of 11 judges out of 13 which include Justice Tariq Nadeem, Justice Amjad Rafiq, Justice Abid Hussain Chatha, Justice Anwar Hussain, Justice Ali Zia Bajwa, Justice Sultan Tanvir, Justice Raza Qureshi and Justice Raheel Kamran.
The council, however, dropped the names of Justice Shan Gul and Justice Sohail Nasir. Earlier, Attorney-General for Pakistan (AGP) Ashtar Ausaf Ali resigned from his post, a private news channel reported.
Meanwhile, the young lawyers took to social media blogging site, Twitter, to lodge their protest in support of Justice Shan Gul.
Barrister Taimur Malik expressed his shock and disappointment over the SJC decision to drop Justice Shan Gul.
Shocked & disappointed that the Judicial Commission decided to drop Justice Shan Gul’s name from confirmation list of LHC judges. Cambridge grad, law officer with multiple Govts, author of probably most reported judgments from the current batch. Devoted his career to this path.
— Taimur Malik (@taimur_malik) October 12, 2022
Usama Khawar Ghumman Advocate said a very disturbing news coming out of Judicial Commission’s Meeting.
“Justice Shan Gul, perhaps most competent & progressive judge among judges who were up for confirmation, hasn’t been confirmd. Delivered more judgmnts thn all the rest combined, bold progressive,” he wrote.
Judicial Apointmnts:
Very disturbing news coming out of Judicial Commission’s Meeting:
Justice Shan Gul, perhaps most competent & progressive judge among judges who were up for confirmation, hasn’t been confirmd. Delivered more judgmnts thn all the rest combined, bold progressive pic.twitter.com/4fEzw9M1nN— Usama Khawar Ghumman ☭ (@UsamaKhawar) October 12, 2022
He said Justice Shan Gul authored a number of learned judgments to protect the fundamental rights of weaker segments of society. He struck down discriminatory laws, esp. those targeting women, persecuted minorities & children.
In a subsequent tweet, Usama said that we need a transparent process for judicial appointments.
“Today in courts & Bar rooms every lawyer was wondering about the reasons for not confirming J. Shan. Lots of speculations. 1-page Rules for appointing judges who can shape direction of the country is unfair & undemocratic,” he wrote.
Advocate Taha A Wyne wrote that Judicial Commission drops the most competent Judge while confirming 11 others, all of who combined are not even close to Shan Gul’s intellect.
“Sad day for the Lahore High Court, missed out on the most exciting prospect seen in recent years”.
Barrister Ambreen Qureshi said that Justice Shan Gul is a great judge- dissapointing decision. What a loss for LHC, she added.
Ummar Ziauddin Advocate wrote that for Shan Gul to be ignored like is shocking.
“Granted we have an arbitrary and veiled confirmation process. But this unprecedented even for this process. He remained outstanding on the bench – with impeccable record. I feel a little more nervous today about our system”.
