Petition Filed in IHC Over President’s Delay in Judicial Appointments
At a glance
- A petition has been filed in the Islamabad High Court.
- It challenges President Asif Ali Zardari's delay in approving judicial appointments.
- An oath-taking ceremony for recommended judges, scheduled for July 27, was postponed.
Story so far
The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) recommended the appointment of 19 judges to various high courts on July 21, with an oath-taking ceremony scheduled for July 27 that was postponed. A summary for these appointments was forwarded to the President. The federal government indicated it would proceed with appointments if the President did not approve the summary within the stipulated timeframe. Now, a petition has been filed in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) challenging President Asif Ali Zardari’s delay in approving this summary, arguing that the President has held it without legal justification and that the Constitution does not allow for indefinite inaction.
Latest development
A petition has been filed in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) challenging President Asif Ali Zardari’s delay in approving the Judicial Commission of Pakistan’s recommendations for judicial appointments and confirmation of additional judges.
Latest updates
A petition has been filed in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) requesting it to direct President Asif Ali Zardari to approve the Judicial Commission of Pakistan’s (JCP) recommendations for the appointment of judges to the Islamabad, Lahore, Sindh, and Balochistan High Courts. The petition also seeks a directive for the President to confirm additional judges already serving in the superior judiciary.
Advocate Luqman Zafar Chaudhry, through his counsel Zahid Asif Chaudhry, filed the petition on Wednesday, challenging President Zardari’s delay in approving a summary forwarded by the Prime Minister under Article 48 of the Constitution. The petitioner argued that the JCP, chaired by the Chief Justice of Pakistan, completed the constitutional process by recommending the appointments on July 20 and 21. The petition states that the President has “not yet given his assent nor returned the said summary but held it without any legal justification.”
It further highlighted that an oath-taking ceremony for the recommended judges, scheduled for July 27, “could not take place and stood indefinitely postponed” because the President had not approved the summary. The petition contends that Article 48 requires the President to act on the advice of the Prime Minister, allowing only one exception: returning the advice for reconsideration within 15 days. It argues that the Constitution “thus contemplated no third option of indefinite silence or inaction,” and that by withholding the summary, the President has converted a “narrow, time-bound and essentially formal” constitutional function into a power.
The petition filed regarding the delay in presidential approval of the summary for judges' appointments has been set for hearing.
Responses