24 additional LHC judges granted extension

Justice Sarmad Jalal Usmani appointed as new SC judge by Judicial commission; Awan hails it as triumph of the govt.

ISLAMABAD: The Judicial Commission, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, on Saturday granted an extension of tenure to 24 additional judges of the Lahore High Court (LHC), while the names of ten judges have been dropped, according to Express 24/7 correspondent Faisal Shakeel.

A total of 34 additional judges of the Lahore High Court were being considered for an extension in their tenure on the basis of their performance.

Shakeel reported that a sharp reaction came from the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA). Asma Jahangir, the President of the SCBA, said that the extensions concept is not acceptable to the SCBA. Jahangir expressed reservations with regards to the dropping of the names of these additional judges in this manner. She said they should have been informed earlier so that they would have had the option of resigning.

Babar Awan, however, dubbed the entire episode as a triumph of the government. He said the 19th and 18th amendment have brought consensus and both the institutions of the state - the executive and the judiciary - are now in harmony.

Earlier, Justice Sarmad Jalal Usmani was appointed as the new Supreme Court Judge by the Judicial Commission.

Justice Musheer Alam will now replace Justice Usmani's previous position of the Cheif Justice for the Sindh High Court.

The Judicial Commission has also recommended making the nine additional judges of the Sindh High Court permanent.

Justice Javed Iqbal, Justice Ijaz Chaudhry, Federal Law Minister Babar Awan, Attorney General Molvi Anwarul Haq and Pakistan Bar Council representative Khalid Ranjha attended the judicial commission meeting.

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

The meeting had been summoned earlier by the chairman of the national judicial commission (NJC) for the appointment of judges in higher judiciary, Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, on January 15, but was postponed due to the murder of Justice Javed Iqbal’s parents.