The standoff between President Asif Ali Zardari and the top judicial authority deepened when a division bench of the Supreme Court restrained his orders on appointment of two senior judges.
The 3-judge bench headed by Justice Shakirullah Jan met in an extraordinary session late Saturday evening declaring the presidential appointments earlier in the day as violation of the constitution because these were done without consultation of the Chief Justice of Pakistan.
In a stunning move President Zardari elevated Chief Justice Lahore High Court (LHC) Khawaja Sharif to the Supreme Court and named Justice Saqib Nisar, the second senior-most judge of the LHC, as acting chief justice in place of Khawaja Sharif. In its interim order, the bench ruled that both judges would continue to stay in their existing positions till the final verdict on the petitions relating to the authority for appointment of judges was out.
Within two hours of the presidential order, Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry took a suo motu notice of the move, and well past the working hours, constituted the three-judge special bench. The bench handed down a short order to “suspend” the official notification. The court set February 18 for the next hearing in the case and issued notices to the government for defending its decisions.
Legal and political experts were unanimous that this was the most serious confrontation between the Supreme Court and the Presidency since Gen Pervez Musharraf imposed emergency on November 3, 2007, and unconstitutionally sacked dozens of superior court judges, including the chief justice.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry had reportedly recommended appointing the recently retired Justice Ramday as an ad hoc judge of the Supreme Court, and elevating Justice Saqib Nisar, the second most senior judge in the Lahore High Court, to the apex court.
Former Attorney-General Latif Khosa who played key role in the latest appointments insisted that Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry was consulted twice on the issue though the President exercised his constitutional prerogative to make the appointments contrary to his advice. He said the President acted on the principle of seniority while making these appointments.
