Govt decides to remove serving PCO judges
* Law ministry official says president will soon send references against judges to Supreme Judicial Council
By Hasnaat Malik
ISLAMABAD: The federal government has decided to remove serving PCO judges under Article 209 of the constitution and it would file references against them in the Supreme Judicial Council very soon.
A senior official in the Law Ministry revealed to Daily Times that the government had decided to remove serving PCO judges under Article 209 of the constitution, though the Supreme Court had on May 18, 2011, directed the federal law secretary to issue notifications regarding the removal of these judges because they cease to hold their offices from April 20, 2010, the day the 18th Constitutional Amendment was passed.
The official said that superior court’s judge could only be sacked through Article 209; therefore the Law Ministry had already sent references regarding the removal of these unseated judges to the president and he would soon refer these references to the Supreme Judicial Council.
The official contended that the Law Ministry would not issue notification about the removal of serving PCO judges according to the court’s order because there was no other way to sack a judge except under Article 209 of the constitution.
Seven judges are facing contempt of court proceedings after refusing to tender unconditional apology before the court. They are: Justice Hasnat Ahmed Khan, Justice Syed Shabbar Raza Rizvi, Justice Syed Hamid Ali Shah, Justice (retd) Iftikhar Hussain Chaudhary, Justice Syed Sajjad Hussain Shah and Justice Yasmin Abbasey and Justice Jahanzaib Rahim. Six PCO judges had filed intra-court appeals in the Supreme Court against its February 2, 2011 verdict against them.
Source: Daily Times
Date:6/6/2011
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