ISLAMABAD: The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) will meet next week for the elevation of two judges from the Lahore High Court (LHC) to the Supreme Court.
The nominees will be selected from the five most senior judges of the LHC.
The sources shared that the JCP meeting originally scheduled on April 8, will now be held on April 11 due to unavailability of some members of the Commission.
In the last meeting, held on February 10, the Commission had nominated six new Supreme Court judges and an acting judge under the 26th constitutional amendment, though it deferred the elevation of two LHC judges.
The total number of Supreme Court judges was increased from 17 to 34 through the 26th Constitutional Amendment.
Currently, there are 22 judges, two ad hoc judges and one acting judge.
Originally, the commission was set to nominate eight new Supreme Court judges, but the decision to defer two appointments came amid lawyers’ protests outside the Supreme Court and a boycott by four JCP members, including senior puisne judge Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Munib Akhtar.
At its February 10 meeting, the JCP, by a majority of its total membership, elevated the following judges to the Supreme Court: Balochistan High Court (BHC) Chief Justice Muhammad Hashim Khan Kakar, Sindh High Court (SHC) Chief Justice Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui, SHC Justice Salahuddin Panhwar, Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Aamer Farooq, Peshawar High Court (PHC) Chief Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim, and PHC Justice Shakeel Ahmad. The JCP also nominated IHC Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb as an acting judge of the Supreme Court.
The senior legal lawyers have the opinion that the pending petition of IHC judges regarding judicial seniority would not affect the Commission’s meeting, but emphasised upon that it must be settled to avoid such disagreements among the judges in the future.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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