Eight deposed judges take oath today

At least eight deposed judges of Sindh High Court will be taking fresh oath of their office on Tuesday (today). A notification to this effect is expected to be issued soon, reported a private TV channel Monday.

According to well-placed government and legal fraternity sources, Anwar Zaheer Jamali will be the Chief Justice of the Sindh High Court by virtue of his being the most senior among the eight deposed and the 18 sitting Sindh High Court judges, including acting Chief Justice Azizullah Memon. Born in Hyderabad on December 31, 1951, Jamali was elevated as high court judge in 1998.

The seven other deposed judges taking fresh oath are Justice Khilji Mohammadi, Amir Hani Muslim, Faisal Arab, Sajjad Ali Shah, Zafar Sherwani, Salman Ansari and Abdul Rashid Kalwar.

The sources concerned said that these judges would be taking fresh oath strictly under the 1973 Constitution, and not under PCO, which no longer exists.

The sources also said the eight judges have agreed to take fresh oath with the condition that they would be reinstated to pre-November 3 position and that they would be allowed to maintain their pre-November 3 seniority. Sindh High Court Chief Justice Muhammad Afzal Soomro was transferred in May last to the Federal Shariat Court as judge.

Justice Soomro was made Chief Justice on November 3 2007 following the promulgation of emergency and PCO by then Gen Musharraf. He was seventh in line among the senior judges. He worked as CJ from November 3 2007 to May 15 2008.

The pre-November 3 strength of Sindh High Court judges was 24 with Chief Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed, who declined to take oath under PCO along with an overwhelming majority of SHC judges. The sources said the present strength of Sindh High Court judges will reach 25 with the oath-taking of eight deposed judges.