SC judges’ elevation: Salman Akram Raja prefers competence over seniority
SC advocate suggested the legal fraternity prefer competence over seniority for judges elevation to Supreme Court.
ISLAMABAD: The Advocate of the Supreme Court (SC) Salman Akram Raja has argued over the insistence of seniority principle for appointments of judges to the superior judiciary and asked the legal fraternity to prefer competence over seniority.
The senior lawyer’s statement came forth after a serious debate was sparked over proposing the name of Lahore High Court’s (LHC) Justice Ayesha A Malik for being elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court (SC) in the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) meeting, brushing aside the seniority principle as she is the fourth most senior judge.
Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Gulzar Ahmed had proposed Justice Ayesha A Malik once again for being elevated as the judge of the superior judiciary which sparked a protest of Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) against ignoring the seniority principle.
The JCP is going to hold another session today to complete its unfinished agenda including a debate on the appointment of Justice Ayesha A Malik as the SC judge.
Salman Akram Raja said in a Twitter message, “Nobody seems to know how to achieve absolute objectivity in the appointment of judges to the SC.
He added that the legal fraternity was still insisting to adopt seniority in the lack of an objectively transparent system for implementing the principle. He suggested that the top court is “about subjective worldviews and courage as much about technical competence.”
Nobody seems to know how to achieve absolute obtectivity in the appointment of judges to the SC & yet we are told to adopt seniority till such time that an objectively transparent system is found. The SC is about subjective worldviews & courage as much about technical competence.
— salman akram raja (@salmanAraja) January 5, 2022
The top court’s advocate further criticised, “Exposing the nonsense that is the so-called seniority principle in appointments to the SC of Pakistan.”
Exposing the nonsense that is the so-called seniority principle in appointments to the SC of Pakistan pic.twitter.com/VIVTHAZYzb
— salman akram raja (@salmanAraja) January 5, 2022
After the proposal of Justice Malik came forth again for consideration in JCP, it was threatened that PBC and other bar associations will boycott all court proceedings if the January 6 meeting is not called off.
PBC had clarified that the legal fraternity was not opposing Justice Ayesha A Malik’s elevation for her gender besides criticizing not to consider the senior judge, Justice Mussarat Hilali of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) for being appointed as the first-ever woman judge of the Supreme Court (SC).
It may be noted that the JCP’s September 9 had been forced to reject the elevation of Justice Ayesha A Malik as the first-ever woman judge in the judicial history of Pakistan.
It would be a historical milestone for Pakistan’s judiciary to appoint a woman SC judge, however, it was deferred due to a lack of consensus in the JCP session. Four members of the eight-member JCP had opposed the elevation of Justice Ayesha Malik on Sept 9, whereas, an equal number supported it.
