15% women judges quota encouraging: lawyers
LAHORE: Women lawyers have praised the Lahore High Court’s (LHC) initiative to earmark a five percent quota for women civil judges and the appointment of 1000 civil judges-cum-judicial magistrates. Many young women lawyers expressed the desire to apply for the job and said that such steps would help discourage gender bias against women. They said many women lawyers wanted to be in the judiciary, but because of a discouraging attitude in a male-dominated society, they hesitated in coming forward.
They said a female judge could “judge female litigants better” and settle family cases accordingly. They also stressed that merit must be ensured in the appointment of judges, adding that political influence in the process should be discouraged. The LHC Bar Association Finance Rabbiya Bajwa praised the LHC initiative and said that female representation in the judiciary was commendable. She said it was encouraging for female lawyers, adding that more female students would like to adopt the profession with the opening of such opportunities. She said women should be given opportunities to perform in the higher judiciary as well, adding that women expected more such steps from the government. Shamsa Noor, a candidate for the post, praised the LHC decision and said women were encouraged by this step and would now be of better help in national development. She said all women lawyers, particularly those who fulfil the criteria given by the LHC for the appointments, were excited and were applying for the posts.
Noor claimed that women worked more than men and that the backlog in family cases would be greatly reduced with the appointment of female judges and it would also help curb corruption in the judiciary. She said that there were rumours that nepotism would be high during the appointments. Amina Mumtaz Awan, another young lawyer and a candidate for the post, said the step taken by the LHC chief justice was good and the allocation of five percent seats for women was a means to empower them, adding that they (women) never disappointed the nation. Advocate Shamsa Yousaf Bhatti appreciated the decision, saying that the LHC chief justice understood women’s rights and women lawyers felt secure working under him.
She said that appointing female judges was not only better for female lawyers but also for female litigants. She said the quota for female judges should be increased to at least 5 percent.
Advocate Bushra Qamar said the LHC initiative would bring revolutionary changes in the proficiency of the lower judiciary. She said such a decision should have been taken earlier. She said every young woman lawyer wanted to apply for the posts. She urged the LHC to ensure merit and demanded that strict criteria be adopted to assess the candidates. She also appreciated the condition of a two-year lawyer’s experience for the candidates, saying that it would harmonise the law degree with the practice. The process of inducting the civil judges has started and application forms for the posts are available at the LHC registrar office, which will be received until October 16.
According to the requirements announced by the LHC, candidates who had completed two years of practice as lawyers and were aged between 28 and 30 years were eligible to apply. Lawyers are required to send their applications to the LHC registrar attested by a district or sessions judge regarding their eligibility. The registrar office has sent instructions to all district and sessions judges to verify their (candidates) qualification and experience. A committee of three judges will make the selections and selected candidates will be called for interviews after passing a written test at the LHC’s principal seat in Lahore and benches at Rawalpindi, Multan and Bahawalpur. The decision for civil judges’ recruitment in grade 17 was taken by the LHC administration committee which met here last week with Chief Justice Iftikhar Hussain Chaudhry in the chair. Justices Khawaja Mohammad Sharif, Syed Zahid Hussain, Mian Muhammad Najamuz Zaman, Mian Saqib Nisar and Asif Saeed Khan Khosa were among the committee members who attended the meeting.
Supreme Court Bar Association President and former LHC judge Malik Mohammad Qayyum said the LHC was authorised to recruit judicial officers directly under the Punjab Judicial Services Rules, 1984.
He said the rules also provided that the LHC administration committee or a subcommittee consisting of its members could assume the role of the Punjab Public Service Commission to select judicial officers. Qayyum said judicial officers were selected by the Punjab Public Service Commission before the enactment of the 1984 rules. He said the quota did not mean that only five women would be selected in the 1000 civil judges-cum-judicial magistrates, the competition was open and women could apply for the remaining 5 posts also.
Source: The Nation
Date:10/1/2006
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