Sunday, September 20, 2009
By Tariq Butt

ISLAMABAD: The resurrection of the Islamabad High Court (IHC), abolished under the July 31 Supreme Court judgment, rests on the parliamentary approval of the proposed constitutional package.

“We cannot establish the IHC through a presidential ordinance, but would have to amend the Constitution for the purpose,” Attorney General Latif Khosa told The News.

He said provision for the establishment of the IHC was included in the constitutional package upon which the multiparty parliamentary committee was deliberating.

However, lawyers, including the newly-elected office-bearers of the IHC Bar Association, who have been eager for the restoration of the high court, are disappointed that there has been a considerable delay in the restoration of the IHC, because the constitutional package is taking a long time to materialise due to serious wrangling among the key political parties.

“I recently told a lawyers’ delegation that wanted immediate restoration of the IHC that there was no short cut and a constitutional amendment would have to be brought about to restore the high court. We are committed to having this court,” Khosa said.

An official source said the government had no plan to de-link the restoration of the IHC from the proposed comprehensive constitutional package and would get the requisite parliamentary approval for it first, so that lawyers and litigants were facilitated.

The IHC stood abolished on July 31 due to the apex court decision for having been created as a result of the Nov 3, 2007 action.

As the IHC lost its very existence, four of its judges were deprived of their judicial status, while the remaining four judges went back to their respective high courts from where they were inducted into the IHC.

Of them, four justices who stayed on the bench were confirmed judges, including Justices M Bilal, Raja Saeed and Qalb-e-Hassan. Those who stood sacked were Intikhab Shah, Arshad Tabraiz, Amjad Iqbal Qureshi and Ramzan Chaudhry.

The PPP has proposed amendment to the Article 175 of the Constitution to provide for the establishment of the IHC as well as the federal constitutional court.

The chief justice of a high court and each of the other judges shall be appointed by the president in the manner as provided for the appointment of a judge of the Supreme Court under the Article 177.

With the restoration of the IHC in limbo, the litigants, whose cases were being heard by the Islamabad High Court, continue to suffer, because all these cases have been transferred to the Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi bench. Lawyers belonging to all sides have been demanding early restoration of the IHC.