Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has the central and leading role in the appointment, confirmation and elevation of judges of the superior courts, constitutional experts say. They quote the Constitution and an authoritative ruling of the Supreme Court delivered in 1996 in the famous judges' case (Al-Jehad Trust) to prove that Justice Chaudhry has a very dominant say that can't be ignored without any cogent and solid reasons by the appointing authority, President Asif Ali Zardari, of the judges. These experts say that one way of showing door to a battalion of recently appointed “party loyalist” unconfirmed additional judges in the high courts is that the CJP recommends to the president termination of their one-year “probationary period” after which they are to be confirmed as justices or dumped. According to them, if the CJP doesn't do so in the near future, he may ignore them while formulating his recommendations to be made to the president when the cases of this batch of judges would come up for their confirmation after the passage of their first year in the judicial service. Quoting the Al-Jehad Trust judgement of the apex court, Idrees Ashraf, advocate, told this correspondent that the opinion of the CJP and the concerned high court chief justice as to the fitness and suitability of a candidate for the position of the judge is entitled to be accepted in the absence of very sound reasons to be recorded by the president in writing. The CJP's recommendation, being part of the consultative process to appoint judges of the Supreme Court and high courts, is nearly binding on the president according to Article 260 (1), which deals with definitions. It says “consultation” shall, save in respect of appointments of judges of the Supreme Court and high courts, means discussion and deliberation, which shall not be binding on the president.” This new definition was inserted in the Constitution by Musharraf's Legal Framework Order.
