Caretaker Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa chief minister Justice (retd) Dost Mohammad Khan retired from his judicial service in March this year and, therefore he failed to meet the constitutional criteria for caretaker appointments, maintained a petition filed in the Peshawar High Court on Tuesday.
The petition, filed by Advocate Syed Azizuddin, said that Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution required a gap of at least two-years between a public servant’s retirement and his subsequent election or selection for a public office. It said that since Justice (retd) Khan retired earlier this year, his caretaker appointment was in violation of the constitution.
The petitioner maintained that Khan’s appointment was also against the National Judicial Policy of 2009 which provided that a Supreme Court justices should not accept any post lower than their status or dignity. He said the post of a caretaker chief minister was lower in stature than that of a justice.
Further, the petition stated that the principle of independence of judiciary restricted judges from accepting executive positions. “The judge who was supposed to work for the supremacy of the Constitution is violating it,” claimed the petitioner, praying to the court to declare Justice Khan’s appointment null and void.
The retired judge was selected by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) from a list of four names provided by the previous Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government and opposition after a parliamentary committee failed to reach a consensus over a name for the post.
Earlier former K-P chief minister Pervez Khattak and former Leader of the Opposition in K-P Assembly Lutfur Rahman also could not agree on a candidate.
Published in Daily Times, June 13th 2018.
