National Judicial Commission: Supreme Court call-up for Justice Sarmad Osmany

Commission nominates SHC Chief Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany and Justice Ameer Hani Muslim for elevation to SC.

ISLAMABAD: The National Judicial Commission on Saturday nominated Sindh High Court (SHC) Chief Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany and Justice Ameer Hani Muslim for elevation to the Supreme Court.

The commission, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, has recommended Justice Mushir Alam, a senior justice of the SHC, as the province’s new chief justice.

After the retirement of Justices Chaudhry Ijaz Ahmed and Rahmat Hussain Jaffery, there were two vacancies for judges in the Supreme Court.

The commission has extended the tenure of 24 additional judges of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on the basis of their performance out of the 34 whose names were under consideration.

The names of the 10 judges who have been left out are Justice Mansur Kokab, Justice Abdur Rahman Ansari, Justice Tariq Javed, Justice Naseem Akhtar Khan, Justice Muhammad Anwar Bhaur, Justice Mian Shahid Iqbal, Justice Shaukat Umar Pirzada, Justice Ikhlaq Ahmad, Justice Waqar Hassan Mir and Justice Hassan Raza Pasha.

The Judicial Commission, however, postponed the confirmation of nine additional judges of the SHC till the next meeting since Justice Mushir Alam has been nominated as the new chief justice.

Two additional judges of the Peshawar High Court have been granted an extension out of the seven whose merits were discussed by the commission.

The recommendations of the judicial commission will now be sent to the parliamentary committee.

Saturday’s judicial commission meeting was the first following the ratification of the 19th amendment by parliament. Nine members of the commission participated in the meeting.

The meeting had been summoned on January 15 by the chairman for the appointment of judges in the higher judiciary, but it had to be postponed due to the murder of Justice Javed Iqbal’s parents.

Four senior judges of the Supreme Court, Justice Javed Iqbal, Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani and Justice Nasirul Mulk participated in the meeting.

Justice (retd)Chaudhry Ijaz Ahmed, federal Law Minister Dr Babar Awan, Attorney General of Pakistan Maulvi Anwarul Haq and Dr Khalid Ranjha, a representative from the Pakistan Bar Council, also attended the meeting.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 23^rd,  2011.