Judicial appointments: Commission approves two new judges for SHC

But there was no consensus on the appointment of six lower court judges to SHC.

ISLAMABAD:

The Judicial Commission on Saturday approved the names of two lawyers – Nadeem Akhtar and Shafi Muhammad – for appointment to the Sindh High Court (SHC). However, the commission did not reach a consensus on finalising the names of six sessions judges and returned the names to the SHC chief justice for reconsideration.

The executive body of the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) opposed the nomination of the six subordinate court judges for appointment to the SHC through a resolution on Friday. It said subordinate court judges should be elevated to high courts on a seniority basis. The body had also expressed concern over the present appointment procedure of judges by the judiciary-dominated Judicial commission.

The commission was headed by Chief Justice Muhammad Iftikhar Chaudhry and met to review the appointment of judges in Sindh and Peshawar high courts. The commission also approved regularisation of additional Judge Yahya Afridi of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) and extension in service to another PHC judge Sajjad Shah, till August. The recommendations have been sent to the Parliamentary Committee for approval.

The names of six judges of lower courts which were sent back to the SHC chief justice for more consideration are: Abdul Rasool Memon, Naimat Ullah Khan, Tariq Hussain Bhatti, Faiz Rasool Rashdi, Ashraf Jahan and Abdul Malki.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 26^th, 2012.