Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial has principally agreed to summon the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) session to fill two vacant seats of judges in the Supreme Court. The seats have been vacant for the last several months.
Sources revealed to The Express Tribune that after confirming Balochistan High Court additional judges on Wednesday, nine members of the JCP discussed the delay in the appointment of two judges to the top court.
After a heated exchange words among them, the chief justice agreed to summon the JCP session soon, the sources added.
“The chief justice is likely to nominate Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Musarrat Hilali for her elevation to the apex court,” the sources opined.
The chief justice had already sought case log with regard to the verdicts pronounced by the PHC chief justice as well as the data about the high court judges who attained superannuation recently.
However, lawyers were not optimistic about the chief justice nominating the PHC chief justice for elevation to the apex court.
The chief justice has been facing difficult situation to elevate junior high courts judges of his choice to the apex court since he is in minority in the JCP.
Last month, senior puisne judge Justice Qazi Faez Isa, who is also a member of the JCP, had wrote a letter to all members of the body proposing the elevation of PHC CJ Musarrat Hilali and Sindh High Court Chief Justice Ahmed Ali Sheikh to the Supreme Court.
The letter said that there continue to exist two vacancies of judges in the Supreme Court, since July 13, 2022 and August 13, 2022, respectively when Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel and Justice Sajjad Ali Shah retired, that is, for a combined period of about nineteen months.
Meanwhile, the JCP recommended confirmation to five judges of the Balochistan High Court. Additionally, the commission has proposed a six-month extension for three additional judges serving in the Peshawar High Court.
The participants of the JCP meeting, presided over by Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial, recommended a permanent status for five BHC judges.
They are Justice Iqbal Ahmed Kasi, Justice Shaukat Ali Rakhshani, Justice Gul Hassan Tareen, Justice Muhammad Aamir Nawaz Rana, and Justice Sardar Ahmed Haleemi.
The JCP sent the names to the Parliamentary Committee on the Appointment of Judges for final approval.
During the huddle, the participants also reviewed the performance of three additional judges of the PHC.
They are Justice Shahid Khan, Justice Fazal Subhan, and Justice Dr Khurshid Iqbal.
The commission extended the tenure of these three additional judges of the PHC by six months.
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