ISLAMABAD - Presidential reference in judges appointment case will be filed in the Supreme Court under Article 186 of the Constitution on December 6 (Thursday).
According to sources of the Ministry of Law and Justice, the reference containing ten questions related to the appointment of judges in the superior judiciary with specific reference to the Islamabad High Court is being prepared.
According to details, a four-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Justice Khilji Arif granted a time of two weeks on November 23, 2012 as sought by Attorney General Irfan Qadir to file a presidential reference in the apex court under Article 186 of the Constitution for seeking guideline regarding appointment of judges in the Islamabad High Court.
The time granted by the apex court will expire on December 7, 2012. The Judicial Commission nominated appointment/extension of two additional judges of the High Court Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui and Justice Noor ul Haq N Qureshi and the nomination was approved by the Parliamentary Committee (PC) under Article 175A inserted in the Constitution under the 18th and 19th Amendments.
The term of both as additional judges was expired on November 20 as the notification was not issued due to some questions raised on the process of recommendations by the Commission with an observation to reconsider the nominations because the commission which had finalized the names had not been constituted properly.
On the hearing of the case, AG Irfan Qadir informed the court that the Law Minister instructed him that a presidential reference would be filed to get SC advice regarding appointment of Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui and Justice Noorul Haq Qureshi besides the non-confirmation of Justice Azim Afridi as IHC judge.