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Despite commitments from the federal government and a directive by the Supreme Court of Pakistan, vacant posts in the Pakistan-occupied Gilgit-Baltistan (PoGB) Supreme Appellate Court have remained unfilled for the past decade, according to a report by Dawn.
Legal experts have described the situation as a judicial crisis in the region, with tens of thousands of cases pending for years in the highest court. The PoGB Supreme Appellate Court, the region's apex judicial body, consists of a chief judge and two other judges. Senior lawyer Adnan Hussain stated that the court's quorum has remained incomplete since the death of Judge Shahbaz Khan in 2016, after which the vacancy was not filled. Subsequently, another judge, Javed Ahmed, retired in 2018. Although one position was later filled when PoGB Chief Court judge Wazir Shakeel was elevated to the Supreme Appellate Court, he retired in 2021 after completing three years in office, as cited in the Dawn report. Adnan Hussain further said that due to the incomplete quorum of three judges, the Supreme Appellate Court has effectively been non-functional since 2016. He noted that several cases cannot be heard by a two-member bench, and for the past six years, the court has been operating with only one judge. Under existing rules, a single judge in the PoGB Supreme Appellate Court is not authorised to hear cases, leading to thousands of significant cases remaining unresolved. Another lawyer, Hafeezur Rehman, explained that under the PoGB law, the authority to appoint judges to the higher judiciary lies with the Prime Minister of Pakistan, who serves as the chairman of the PoGB Council. He added that thousands of cases, many of public importance, are pending, including service-related appeals, disputes over promotions and seniority, and criminal appeals against decisions of the PoGB Chief Court, highlighted the Dawn report. He also mentioned that completing the court's quorum is a major demand of the local population. Last year, the legal community in PoGB staged protests for nine months, boycotting court proceedings and organising demonstrations across the region to press for appointments in the Supreme Appellate Court. The protests were initiated by the Gilgit-Baltistan Bar Council, the PoGB Supreme Appellate Court Bar Association, and the High Court Bar Associations of all ten districts. (ANI)
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