JCP to decide on appointment of eight Supreme Court judges on Feb 11

• Meeting to consider senior high court chief justices.
• Puisne judges of LHC, PHC, Balochistan HC denotified from JCP.
• Denotification was due to an objection raised by Justice Akhtar.
  

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afrid has scheduled a meeting of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) for the appointment of eight new judges to the Supreme Court, The News reported.

The meeting is set to take place on February 11 at 2pm in the Supreme Court's conference room. The agenda includes considering five senior judges, including the chief justices of all high courts, to fill the eight vacant positions.

CJP Afridi had reconstituted the top judicial body in line with the 26th Amendment besides forming a seven-member constitutional bench last year.

As per the 26th Constitutional Amendment, the strength of the Judicial Commission is 13 members. The judicial commission is mandated to appoint judges to the Supreme Court, high courts, and the Federal Shariat Court (FSC).

As per the addition of Article 175-A in the Constitution through the 26th Amendment, the JCP will be headed by CJP and will also consist of two senators and two MNAs.

The commission also consists of three senior-most judges of the Supreme Court, the most senior judge of the constitutional bench, the Federal Minister for Law and Justice, the Attorney General for Pakistan, an advocate not having experience of less than 15 years of practice in the Supreme Court to be nominated by the Pakistan Bar Council (for two years).

A woman or non-Muslim member of parliament qualifies to be a parliamentarian to be nominated by the speaker for two years and will also be part of the key panel.

Meanwhile, the Judicial Commission of Pakistan has denotified the senior puisne judges of the Lahore High Court, High Court of Balochistan and Peshawar High Court as Members of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan.

This denotification was due to an objection raised by Justice Munib Akhtar, Judge, Supreme Court of Pakistan/Member Judicial Commission of Pakistan in the meeting of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (High Court of Balochistan) dated January 17, 2025.

The objection was based on the interpretation of the third proviso to Article 175(5) of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan read with Article 1(2) of the Constitution Twenty-sixth Amendment Act (No. XXVI) of 2024.

The Attorney-General of Pakistan also concurred with the same opinion. The Chairperson of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan approved the said objection, subject to any judicial pronouncement, according to an official statement issued on Monday.