Deposed HC judges to be elevated to SC

Justice Khawaja is the senior most among the ten judges who did not take oath under November 3 PCO. However, four of them had accepted their reappointment with original seniority while one deposed judge had retired on August 17 on attaining superannuation.

The lawyers have expressed the hope that Justice Khawaja Sharif would not follow the footsteps of his other colleagues because taking fresh oath would amount to accepting November 3 unconstitutional steps as constitutional and Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar as constitutional chief justice of the country.

Special Report from Islamabad adds: The government has decided to appoint three senior non-functional High Court judges in the Supreme Court whereas three other deposed judges will take their oath immediately after the swearing-in of the President.

Meanwhile, the government officials have accelerated their contacts with the deposed judges. A lawyer leader of the PPP who has been very active in the re-appointment of the non-PCO judges maintained that it was a part of the government strategy not to administer oath on the senior non-functional High Court judges and to place them in the Supreme Court instead.