Two constitutional offices of judges of the Supreme Court of Pakistan are lying vacant after the retirement of justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmed and justice Javed Iqbal.
The Judicial Commission of Pakistan, which has become functional after the 18th constitutional amendment is expected to take up the elevation issue of probable chief justices among the five high courts as judges of the apex court to complete the constitutional strength. The commission will then send its recommendation to the parliamentary committee for further consideration in this regard.
The required constitutional strength has to be filled, as the apex court is all set to take up important constitutional issues pending before it after its summer vacations. Justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmed had retired on June 1, 2011, Justice Javed Iqbal on August 1, 2011 while Justice Mahmood Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui would be retiring on October 13, 2011, Justice Muhammad Sair Ali on December 11, 2011, and ad-hoc judge Justice Ghulam Rabbani will retire on October 20, 2011.
Two of them, Justice Muhammad Sair Ali and Justice Mahmood Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui, belong to Punjab while justice retired Javed Iqbal and Justice retired Raja Fayyaz Ahmed are from Balochistan whereas Justice Ghulam Rabbani is from the province of Sindh.
Currently, according to the official record of the Supreme Court, Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry (Balochistan), Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan (KPK), Justice Tassadduq Hussain Jillani (Punjab), Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk (KPK), Justice Muhammad Sair Ali (Punjab), Justice Mahmood Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui (Punjab), Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja (Punjab), Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali (Sindh), Justice Khilji Arif Hussain (Sindh), Justice Tariq Parvez Khan (KPK), Justice Mian Saqib Nisar (Punjab), Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa (Punjab), Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany (Sindh), Justice Amir Hani Muslim (Sindh) and ad-hoc judge Justice Ghulam Rabbani (Sindh) are functioning in the apex court.