Judicial appointments: CJP summons JCP meeting on Mar 2

Judicial commission will consider confirmation of six LHC judges whose tenure expires later that month

ISLAMABAD:

Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Anwar Zaheer Jamali has summoned a meeting of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) on March 2 to consider the confirmation of six Lahore High Court (LHC) additional judges whose tenures are set to expire later that month.

The JCP had approved one-year extensions for justices James Joseph, Zafarullah Khan Khakwani, Shams Mehmood Mirza, Syed Shahbaz Ali Rizvi, Shahid Jamil Khan and Faisal Zaman Khan on February 27 last year. Their terms in service are now set to end on March 22.

The appointment procedure of superior court judges has been severely criticised by lawyers and parliamentarians alike.

According to Article 175-A of the Constitution which was introduced through the 18th amendment, a commission was formed under the chairmanship of the CJP which comprises the law minister, four senior-most judges, the attorney general of Pakistan, a retired judge and a representative of the Pakistan Bar Council.

The commission sends its proposals regarding the appointment as well as confirmation of superior court judges to the parliamentary committee on judges’ appointment. However, the committee has not held any meetings to consider JCP proposals since last October to protest being turned into a ‘rubber stamp’ by the commission.

Committee member Chaudhry Mahmood Bashir Virk told The Express Tribune that the panel did not want to become a ‘post office’ in the superior court judges’ appointment process. He said the committee has already urged the federal government to place the constitutional amendment bill drafted by the committee before parliament for debate. Virk claims the previous process of judges’ appointment was much better than the current one.

A three-member sub-committee headed by Senator Farooq Naek has consulted bar representatives and retired judges and proposed constitutional amendments to change the present procedure of judges’ appointments.

The proposal calls for increasing the time duration given to the parliamentary committee for decision making from 14 days to 30 days, as the panel could not play its role effectively in the limited time given for vetting the JCP’s recommendations.

Pakistan Bar Council Vice-Chairman Barrister Farogh Naseem expressed reservations about the role of the parliamentary committee in the appointment of the superior court judges and said the procedure adopted by the panel is not fair because the composition of the eight-member bipartisan committee was not just.

“I challenge the merit of the committee’s composition. Parliamentarians who can play an effective role because of their understanding and experience have not been made its members,” he said.


Published in The Express Tribune, February 28^th, 2016.