Appointment of additional judges of SHC & PHC deferred till 21st December by Judicial Commission of Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Dec 06, (SABAH): The meetings of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan, Judicial Commission of Pakistan (High Court of Sindh) and Judicial Commission of Pakistan (Peshawar High Court) were convened on Friday. The Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Yahya Afridi chaired the meetings. The following members attended the meetings in person while Justice Munib Akhtar joined the meeting through video link Supreme Court, Branch Registry, Karachi. Justice Yahya Afridi, Chief Justice of Pakistan/Chairman Judicial Commission of Pakistan, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Judge Supreme Court, Justice Munib Akhtar, Judge Supreme Court, Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan, Judge Supreme Court, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail Judge, Judge Supreme Court, Justice Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui, Chief Justice of High Court of Sindh, Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim, Chief Justice of Peshawar High Court, Justice Ijaz Anwar, Judge of Peshawar High Court, Justice Muhammad Karim Khan Agha, Judge of High Court of Sindh, Azam Nazeer Tarar, Federal Minister for Law and Justice, Mansoor Usman Awan, Attorney General for Pakistan, Sheikh Aftab Ahmad, MNA, Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, MNA, Barrister Ali Zafar, Senator, Farooq Hamid Naek, Senator, Ziaul Hassan Lanjhar, Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs, Sindh, Aftab Alam Afridi, Minister for Law, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Akhtar Hussain, Senior ASC, Ms. Roshan Khursheed Bharucha, Nominee of the Speaker National Assembly, Munir Hussain Lughmani, Representative of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council, Qurban Ali Malano, Representative of Sindh Bar Council.

The meetings took up for consideration the following agendas: 1. Constitution of Rules Committee for preparing draft rules for procedure of Judicial Commission of Pakistan. 2. Nomination of Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan Judge Supreme Court of Pakistan as judge for Constitutional Benches in the Supreme Court. 3. Nominations for appointment as Additional Judges for Peshawar High Court and High Court of Sindh. 4. To consider the 02 names of sitting Judges of the High Court of Sindh for the Constitutional Benches.

The Judicial Commission of Pakistan unanimously decided to accord highest priority towards framing of rules relating to regulating its procedure including the procedure and criteria for assessment, evaluation and fitness for appointment of Judges. The Commission authorized the Chairman / Chief Justice of Pakistan to nominate members out of the commission for the purpose of constituting the committee. The Chief Justice of Pakistan constituted the committee of the following members to undertake drafting rules and share the same with the Secretariat of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan by 15th December, 2024. Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Judge Supreme Court (Chairman), Mansoor Usman Awan, Attorney General of Pakistan, Barrister Syed Ali Zafar, Senator member, Farooq Hamid Naek, Senator member and Akhtar Hussain, Senior ASC member.

The committee will have support of the following: Niaz Muhammad Khan, Secretary JCP, Zafar Iqbal, Research Officer, Supreme Court and Qaiser Abbas, Research Officer, Supreme Court. The Committee is expected to furnish the draft rules by 15th December, 2024. The Commission also approved the nomination of Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan, a judge of the Supreme Court for the constitutional benches of the Supreme Court.

In its second meeting, the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (Peshawar High Court) the agenda of appointment of Additional Judges for the Peshawar high court was deferred till 21st December, 2024. It was also decided to extend the date of submission of nominations for appointment of Additional Judges till 10th December, 2024 The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (Sindh) nominated Justice Adnan-ul-Karim Memon and Justice Agha Faisal as Judges of Constitutional Benches of the High Court of Sindh by a majority vote. In the meeting of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (High Court of Sindh) the agenda for appointment of Additional Judges for the High Court of Sindh was deferred till 21st December, 2024. It was also decided to extend the date of submission of nominations for appointment of Additional Judges till 10th December, 2024.

Earlier, in a joint preliminary meeting, the Commission received a detailed presentation from the IT experts in using technology in order to reduce the massive paper load involved in the decision-making process of the Commission. The Chief Justice of Pakistan / Chairman of the Commission informed the participants that the move is intended to reduce the burden of the secretariat and members of the Commission. The members of the Commission appreciated the efforts and agreed to switch to the technology gradually for ease of the members.