Justice (retired) Maqbool Baqar on Thursday declined an offer to serve as an ad hoc judge of the Supreme Court, becoming the second judge to refuse the appointment following criticism.
Days before his announcement, retired Supreme Court judge Mushir Alam had turned down the offer to work as an ad hoc judge for a three-year term.
The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP), headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, is scheduled to meet on Friday to consider the appointment of four retired apex court judges.
While the government strongly believes the need exists for additional judges to clear pending cases, the main opposition party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has termed the move as “dishonesty”.
Justice (retired) Baqar said that he was deciding against becoming an ad hoc judge due to “personal reasons”.
However, he mentioned that the appointment of ad hoc judges to the apex court is in line with the law and that criticism is “baseless”.
