Five PHC additional judges stop work

PESHAWAR: Five additional judges of Peshawar High Court, who were not recommended by the Judicial Commission for confirmation or extension, stopped performing duty on Monday.Although Justice Ziaur Rehman Khan, Justice Sardar Shaukat Hayat, Justice Samad Khan, Justice Sher Mohammad and Justice Imtiaz Ali were appointed for a period of one year, which will expire on March 15, yet they preferred to stay away from the bench. Following this development the high court has to change the roster for the week and issue a fresh one. Similarly, the cause list issued for the cases on Monday was also changed.Three of the judges — Justice Ziaur Rehman, Justice Sardar Shaukat Hayat and Justice Imtiaz Ali — had been performing their duties in Peshawar whereas Justice Samad Khan and Justice Sher Mohammad Khan were deputed at the circuit benches at Abbottabad and Dera Ismail Khan, respectively.The Judicial Commission, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, had in its meeting on Jan 22 recommended to extend services of only two of the additional judges — Justice Syed Sajjad Hassan Shah and Justice Yahya Afridi. The rest of the five additional judges were not recommended by the commission.Following the decision of the commission, now only nine judges of the high court including Chief Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan are functional out of which only three are confirmed judges and six are working on additional basis.According to the fresh cause lists, issued by the high court, five of the judges would now function in Peshawar, whereas rest of the four would perform duty in the circuit benches at Abbottabad and D.I. Khan – Dawn