JCP approves five additional judges for BHC

The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) on Friday approved the nomination of five lawyers for their appointment as additional judges of the Balochistan High Court.

A meeting of the commission -- a body responsible for approving the appointment of judges to the Supreme Court and high courts of the country -- was held under the chairmanship of Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial.

The Balochistan High Court chief justice had recommended the names of five lawyers for the posts -- Iqbal Ahmed Kasi, Shaukat Ali Rakhshani, Gul Hassan Tareen, Muhammad Aamir Nawaz Rana and Sardar Ahmed Haleemi.

Sources told The Express Tribune that during the meeting, four JCP members -- Balochistan Bar Council representative Rahib Bulaidee, Pakistan Bar Council representative Akhtar Hussain, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar and Attorney General for Pakistan Ashtar Ausaf Ali -- suggested that instead of approving all of them, two names should be given the nod for their appointment.

They were of the view that the total pending cases in the whole province were around 5,000 while nine judges were already working at the high court.

They added that apart from that, there was no infrastructure to start benches in Khuzdar and Loralai.
To save public exchequer, they insisted that only two names should be recommended for appointments.
Similarly, Justice Ijazul Ahsan also endorsed that three names could be considered.

However, it has been learnt that the majority members, including Justice Qazi Faez Isa, did not agree with them and supported the appointment of all nominees.

Earlier in the day, on the request of the Balochistan Bar Council, lawyers observed a complete strike in the country against these nominations. The Balochistan Bar Council members alleged that incumbent and retired judges’ chamber fellows and relatives were being accommodated.

They claimed that provincial bodies were not consulted before initiation of these names. They added that the nominations reeked of “favouritism” and “nepotism”.

Separately, the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) executive committee has expressed reservations over Sindh High Court Chief Justice Ahmed Ali Sheikh recommending names for the appointment of SHC additional judges.

A meeting of the executive committee of the PBC was held on Thursday presided over by its chairman, Pir Muhammad Masood Chishti.

The PBC committee passed a resolution which read that it had been observed that the SHC CJ was a “controversial” personality after the issuance of a notification dated August 16, 2021, on his appointment as an ad-hoc Judge of the Supreme Court – a matter that was yet to sorted out.

It also referred to the resolutions passed by the Sukkur High Court Bar Association and various district bar associations of the province on the issue of the elevation of additional judges to the Sindh High Court.

“Therefore, the status of Hon’ble Chief Justice, Sindh High Court, should be determined first. [Until then] he cannot recommend [the] name of anyone for elevation as an additional judge to the Judicial Commission of Pakistan,” the resolution read.