Sir: When it comes to appointing the judge and the chief judge of GB Supreme Appellate Court, the recommendations given to Sartaj Aziz Committee by GB government pertain to this matter were not included neither in Order 2018 nor 2019. According to the latest summary of said appointment, Prime Ministry has arbitration to choose a non-vernacular judge which is violation of Article 175 of the constitution and meritocracy. Ironically, in Kashmir – of which GB is assumed to be a part – the chief judge can be indigenous, but in GB, despite having no lack of eligibility and competence in judges whose niche is for said post, they are kept deprived simply because they carry a GB domicile.
Since the promulgation of Governance Order 2009, the appointments of judges of GB Chief Court and Supreme Appellate Court have been made in a pre-engineered way by the federal government: The appointments of judges of former were/are made either on sectarian ratio or political basis, whereas, judges of latter were/are appointed directly from center’s arbitration, that too non-vernacular. The appointments of judges should be undertaken through the Judicial Commission in consultation with the GB Bar Association in order to ensure the meritocracy and stop the appointments based on nepotism, sectarian proportioning or political affiliations.
ZAHID ALI ZOHRI
Gilgit-Baltistan