LAHORE: The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) on Monday confirmed four additional judges of the Lahore High Court (LHC) while deferred fresh appointment of judges in the court.

The judges confirmed are: Justice Khalid Mahmood Malik, Justice Chaudhry Mushtaq Ahmad, Justice Masood Abid Naqvi and Justice Chaudhry Muhammad Iqbal.

The JCP in its meeting held at the Supreme Court principal seat also confirmed three additional judges of the Peshawar High Court (PHC). They are: Justice Muhammad Younas Taheem, Justice Qalandar Ali Khan and Justice Muhammad Ghazanfar Khan. The commission did not confirm Justice Haider Ali Khan of the PHC.

It also approved appointment of District and Sessions Judge Nazeer Ahmad Langove as additional judge of Balochistan High Court.

Chief Justice of Pakistan Anwar Zaheer Jamali presided over the meeting being chairman of the judicial commission.

The chairman and members of the commission deliberated upon the list of nominees initiated by LHC Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah for elevation as additional judges against 14 vacancies in the court.

They observed that in order to select best out of best persons, some additional names might be added to the list of nominations already initiated by the chief justice.

The JC adjourned for Nov 3 to consider fresh nominations as well as the list of nominees already submitted to the LHC.

The 16 nominees for LHC vacancies are: Sohail Nasir, Abid Hussain Qureshi, Mujahid Mustaqeem, Tariq Iftikhar Ahmad, Abdul Sattar, Habibullah Amir (all from district judiciary) while Muhammad Bashir Paracha, Asjad Javed Ghural, Tariq Saleem Sheikh, Jawad Hassan, Ahmad Raza Gillani, Muzammil Akhtar Shabbir, Mudassir Khalid Abbasi, Abdul Rehman Aurangzeb, Muhammad Ali and Chaudhry Abdul Aziz from the bar.

The JCP members, including representatives of the Pakistan Bar Council and Punjab Bar Council, appreciated the mechanism adopted by the LHC chief justice to shortlist the nominees.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2016