The Judiciary and its intrigues

Three cases are pending in the Constitutional Division of the High Court where sitting judges have questioned their age of retirement under the Constitution. Whether the Supreme Court (SC) on October 19, 2015 disregarded the established doctrine of sub judice, and whether it gratuitously decided issues not in its purview and sat in a matter which the judges had an interest, are concerns for academicians and jurists.

The SC stated: “We find and hold that the Judicial Service Commission lacks competence to direct or determine how, or when, a judge in any of the Superior Courts may perform his or her judicial duty, or when he or she may or may not sit in court. It follows that the said directive concerning judges of the superior courts, issued by the Judicial Service Commission, is a nullity in law.”