Another judge declines SC ad-hoc judge role

ISLAMABAD: After Justice Mushir Alam, another retired judge Justice Maqbool Baqar on Thursday declined an offer to serve as an ad hoc judge of the Supreme Court, ARY News reported.

Bakar has become the second judge to refuse the appointment as Justice (r) Mushir Alam had turned down the offer to work as an ad hoc judge for a three-year term.

Justice Bakar, and Alam were nominated for the ad hoc position in the upcoming Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) meeting scheduled for Friday, July 19.

The JCP, chaired by Chief Justice Isa, will consider appointing four retired judges — Mushir Alam, Maqbool Baqar, Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Sardar Tariq Masood — as ad hoc members of the Supreme Court.

جسٹس (ر)مقبول باقر نے بھی ایڈہاک جج بننےسے معذرت کرلی#ARYNews pic.twitter.com/mXLj5mz9Nd

— ARY NEWS (@ARYNEWSOFFICIAL) July 18, 2024

Justice Alam retired from the Supreme Court on Aug 21, 2021; Justice Baqar, who served as the Sindh chief minister during the last caretaker set-up, retired on April 4, 2022; Justice Miankhel retired on July 13, 2022; and Justice Masood on March 10, 2024.

In a statement today, Justice (retired) Baqar said that he was deciding an ad hoc judge offer due to “personal reasons”.

However, Bakar termed the appointment of ad hoc judges to the apex court is in line with the law and rejected the “baseless” criticism.