President appoints three new judges of apex court

Approves appointment of Justice Azmat Saeed as LHC chief justice.

ISLAMABAD:

President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday appointed Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, Chief Justice Peshawar High Court, Justice Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry, Chief Justice Lahore High Court and Justice Gulzar Ahmed, Senior Pusine Judge Sindh High Court, as judges of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

After these new appointments the strength of the judges in the Supreme Court has reached 16, with one seat still vacant. In addition to the three newly-appointed judges, the judicial commission had also nominated Justice Muhammad Athar Saeed, former Judge Sindh High Court, for elevation to the Supreme Court. However the parliamentary committee did not make a decision on Justice Athar Saeed’s nomination.

Under article 175 of the Constitution, the judicial commission headed by the chief justice of Pakistan, sends its nomination for the appointment of an apex court judge to a parliamentary committee. After the approval of the eight-member committee, with equal representation from treasury and opposition benches, the president issues the notification of appointment on the advice of the prime minister.

If the parliamentary committee turns down a nomination by a three-fourth majority vote the judicial commission has to send another nomination. Under clause 12 of article 175-A of the constitution, in case the parliamentary committee does not reach any conclusion within 14 days of receiving the recommendation from the judicial commission the judge is deemed to have been confirmed.

According to an official handout, the president, on the advice of the prime minister, also approved the appointment of Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed, Judge Lahore High Court as Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court. The president also confirmed Justice Muhammad Anwar Khan Kasi and Justice Riaz Ahmed Khan as judges of the Islamabad High Court. Noorul Haq N Qureshi, Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui and Muhammad Azeem Khan Afridi were appointed as additional judges of the Islamabad High Court for a period of one year.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 16^th, 2011.