Islamabad and Lahore appointments: JCP to meet on new high court judges

One of the eight shortlisted for LHC judge is a Christian from Multan.

ISLAMABAD:

Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani has summoned a meeting of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) regarding the appointment of three Islamabad High Court and eight Lahore High Court judges on March 4, The Express Tribune has learnt.

Sources said the agenda of the meeting has been sent to all members of the commission.

The most interesting thing is that the JCP will consider the name of a lawyer belonging to a minority community for the post of LHC judge, they said.

It was also learnt that Chief Justice LHC Umar Ata Bandial has initiated the name of James Joseph, a resident of the Multan division, for LHC judge. He was enrolled as a Supreme Court judge on August 5, 2012.

Former Pakistan Bar Council vice-chairman Qulb-i-Hassan has appreciated the chief justices of LHC and the Supreme Court for initiating the name of a lawyer belonging to the Christian community.

He also said that since he took oath as CJP, Justice Jillani is giving priority to the issues of the minority community and that the bar would fully cooperate with his efforts in this regard.

More than 120 judges have been appointed in the superior courts during former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry’s era since March 2009, but lawyers, belonging to the minority communities were ignored in this regard. The former CJ’s critics allege that rightwing lawyers were given preference for appointment as superior court judges.

Eight names

It is learnt that eight names have been initiated for the appointment of LHC judges, with four drawn from Lahore, two from Multan, one from Rawalpindi and one from Bahawalpur. The name of a senior law officer of the federal government has also been initiated for the Lahore High Court, sources said.

It was also learnt that three of the slots for IHC judges will be given to those included on the list of 11 names under consideration for appointment. While seven lawyers associated with the IHC Bar Association are being considered for two of these three seats, four lawyers of Balochistan are also under consideration for the remaining slot of IHC judge.

Representatives of the IHC Bar Association were annoyed with the former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry for ignoring the capital’s lawyers for appointment as IHC judges. For the first time, Islamabad lawyers namely Haroonur Rasheed, Nayab Gardezi, Anees Jillani, Anwar Shah will be considered for two appointments. Currently, four judges are working in the capital high court and three posts are still vacant.

Sources also revealed that as chairman of the JCP, the Chief Justice of Pakistan has constituted a four-member committee, headed by retired Supreme Court judge Rahmat Hussain Jafferi, to examine the eligibility of these 11 lawyers as well as short list the names for the IHC judges.

The other three members of the committee are IHC senior most judge Justice Riaz Ahmad Khan, Attorney General for Pakistan Salman Aslam Butt and Pakistan Bar Council’s representative Yasin Azad, they added.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 21^st, 2014.