Commission meets to appoint judges to the SC

CJ to chair meeting today; SHC Chief Justice Sarmad Jalal Usmani’s name is reportedly under consideration.

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who is also chairman national judicial commission (NJC) for the appointment of judges in higher judiciary, would chair the NJC meeting today in the apex court.

The agenda of the meeting is to discuss the names of candidates for two vacant positions of judges in the Supreme Court. The positions became vacant after the retirement of Justice Chaudhry Ijaz and Justice Rahmat Hussain Jaffery.

Confirmation of the ad-hoc judges of the Lahore High Court would also be placed on the agenda of the meeting.

This is the first meeting since the approval of the 19th Amendment by the parliament, wherein nine members of the commission will participate.

Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani and Justice Nasirul Mulk have been taken on board after the approval of the 19th amendment, and will give their input in the appointment of judges to the Supreme Court.

After the induction of the two aforementioned judges in the commission, the number of serving judges in the NJC has increased to five in the nine-member body.

The meeting had been summoned earlier by the chairman, Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, on January 15, but was postponed due to the murder of Justice Javed Iqbal’s parents.

According to the sources, the commission will consider the name of Sindh High Court Chief Justice Sarmad Jalal Usmani as a judge for the Supreme Court.

Usmani was a member of the 13-member bench of the apex court, which declared November 3, 2007 emergency and the PCO as unconstitutional on July 31, 2009. Meanwhile, a meeting of the Supreme Court Bar Association’s executive body will also be held at Supreme Court building today.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 22^nd, 2011.