The go-ahead: Committee endorses 3 judges for appointment

LHC CJ Umar Atta Bandial moves to SC, replaced by Khawaja Imtiaz.

Umar Atta Bandial

ISLAMABAD:


A bipartisan parliamentary committee working on the appointments of the judges in the superior judiciary on Tuesday endorsed three names as earlier recommended by the Judicial Commission (JC).


Incumbent chief justice of Lahore Court Umar Atta Bandial was recommended for the Supreme Court and senior most judge of the Lahore High Court Khawaja Imtiaz was recommended to be elevated as chief justice of Lahore High Court.

Senior advocate Supreme Court Athar Minallah, who also served as the spokesperson for the former chief justice Iftikhar Mohamamd Chaudhry, was recommended as additional judge for Islamabad High Court for one year. These names will now be forwarded to the president for final approval and a notification will be issued after the names are finalised.


The parliamentary committee meeting was chaired by Senator Rafiq Rajwana and attended by senators Raja Zafarul Haq and Farooq Naek, MNAs Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Naveed Qamer, Arshad Laghari and Bashir Virk, who endorsed the JC’s recommendation.

Earlier, the judicial commission in its meeting on May 28 approved the appointment of Lahore High Court Chief Justice, Justice Umar Atta Bandial as a judge of the Supreme Court, and that of Justice Khawaja Imtiaz as the new chief justice of the Lahore High Court.

Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani presided over the meeting and also approved Athar Minallah’s nomination.

Under the 18th Amendment, judges are appointed through a bipartisan parliamentary committee with equal representation of the government and opposition from both the National Assembly and Senate. However, some members, particularly those belonging to the PPP and ANP, have been complaining that the committee has been rendered ineffective as the Judicial Commission overturned its decisions and recommendations.

Chief Justice of Pakistan Tassaduq Hussain Jillani has summoned a meeting of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan on Thursday (June 12) regarding the confirmation of six additional judges of Sindh High Court, the sources revealed to The Express Tribune.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 11th, 2014.
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