ISLAMABAD: The Judicial Commission approved on Thursday the name of retired Justice Sardar Mohammad Raza Khan for the post of chief justice of the Federal Shariat Court.

After the endorsement by the Parliamentary Committee, Justice Raza will replace Chief Justice Agha Rafiq who is reaching superannuation on June 4 after his five-year term in office. Justice Raza was retired from the Supreme Court on Feb 10, 2010.

The JC, headed by Supreme Court Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, also recommended four lawyers from Sindh to be elevated as additional judges of the Sindh High Court. They are Amir Raza Naqvi, one of the judges affected by the July 31, 2009 judgment which had sent home over 100 judges, Syed Saeeduddin Nasir, Mohammad Iqbal Kalhoro and Shahid Sarki. The JC deferred to consider the name of NAB Prosecutor General K.K. Agha and dropped the name of Advocate Mohammad Hassan.

The JC may consider next time the names of district and sessions judges from Sindh Ghulam Qadir Laghari, Abdul Ghani Soomro, Syed Saghir Hussain Zaidi and Rashid Ahmad Soomro to be elevated as the SHC judges.