Justice Baqar turns down ad-hoc judge role in SC following Justice Mushir

ISLAMABAD: Justice (retired) Maqbool Baqar also declined an offer to serve as an ad hoc judge of the Supreme Court following Justice Mushir Alam’s refusal. 

Earlier, retired Supreme Court judge Mushir Alam had turned down the offer to work as an ad hoc judge for a three-year term following criticism.

The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP), headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, is scheduled to meet on Friday to consider the appointment of four retired apex court judges.

CJP Isa had initially nominated Justice (r) Mushir Alam, Justice (r) Maqbool Baqir, Justice (r) Mazhar Alam, and Justice (r) Sardar Tariq Masood for the ad-hoc judge positions in the apex court.

The main opposition party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) opposing the appointment of ad hoc judges in the Supreme Court (SC), termed it as a move based on dishonesty.

Omar Ayub, leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, in conversation with journalists in Islamabad, said hiring three or four judges won’t address the issue of thousands of pending cases. “The motive behind the move is to appoint ‘like-minded’ judges to the Supreme Court. Political workers and the lawyers’ fraternity reject the move,” Ayub said.

Talking to the prviate media channel, Justice (retired) and former interim Chief Minister Sindh Baqar said that he was deciding against becoming an ad hoc judge due to “personal reasons” and that appointment of ad hoc judges is in line with the law and that criticism is “baseless”.

Backing CJP Isa’s decision, Justice (r) Baqar said that it was “crucial” to appoint ad hoc judges in light of the backlog of cases.