CJP convenes judicial commission on May 28 to deliberate on 3 new judges for IHC

Judicial commission to deliberate over names to appoint judges on Islamabad, K-P and Balochistan seats.

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan Tassaduq Hussain Jillani has summoned a meeting of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) on May 28 to deliberate over the appointment of three additional judges of Islamabad High Court, The Express Tribune learnt on Saturday.

Sources told The Express Tribune that Islamabad High Court chief justice Muhammad Anwar Kasi has recommended the name of lawyer Athar Minallah for the post of IHC judge.

Minallah belongs to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and had served as the spokesperson for former Supreme Court chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhy during the lawyers’ movement.

According to the IHC Act 2010, the capital’s high court comprises of one chief justice and six judges who would be appointed from all provinces and FATA.

After the retirement of Justice Riaz Ahmad Khan last week, the post of a judge elevated from K-P was lying vacant. IHC CJ has thus proposed the name of Minallah for the slot.

The sources further said that the IHC CJ had proposed four further names for posts of Islamabad and Balochistan based judge. For this purpose, Justice Kasi has proposed the names of Mian Abdul Rauf and Anees Jillani for a seat in the high court for Islamabad.  The names of Sher Shah Kasi and Tahir Shah have been proposed for the post of IHC judge from Balochistan.

A sub-committee headed by retired Supreme Court judge Rahmat Hussain Jaferi will meet on May 27 to shortlist two names from the four nominees.

Earlier, CJP had summoned a meeting of the JCP on April 10 to review the appointments in the IHC. Later, a JCP sub-committee, which was due to shortlist names, was postponed.

The strength of the Islamabad High Court has been reduced to three judges after the retirement of senior-most judge Justice Riaz Ahmad Khan last week.

The capital’s high court should have seven serving judges, but due to shortage of judges, and a backlog of over 13,000 cases, was causing problems to litigants.

Meanwhile, the Islamabad High Court Bar Association President Mohsin Kayani has warned of protests if the names of the capital’s lawyers as IHC judges were not considered.

Kayani, while talking to The Express Tribune, lamented that since the re-establishment of the court in 2010, no judge had been appointed from the cadre of Islamabad based lawyers.