ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) may get its first lady judge since its establishment in January 2011.

The law ministry has formally informed the Judicial Commission of Pakistan headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Asif Saeed Khan Khosa about the recommendation of IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah.

As per a document forwarded to the CJP by federal Minister for Law and Justice Barrister Farogh Nasim, Lubna Saleem Pervez is among a panel of three lawyers nominated by the IHC chief justice. She is currently working as deputy attorney general at the Sindh High Court.

Islamabad-based lawyer Fiaz Anjum Jandram and Ghulam Azam Qambrani from Balochistan are other two nominations.

The CJP will consider the names of three lawyers for appointment as additional judges for a period of one year.

The law ministry has stated: “Honorable Chief Justice of Pakistan, Chairman Judicial Commission of Pakistan, has been pleased to convene meeting of the Commission on Thursday, November 21, 2019 at 3pm to consider the... nominations initiated by the Honorable Chief Justice of Islamabad High Court, for appointment as additional judges in the court.”

The IHC chief justice had in May this year recommended the names of Karachi-based lawyer Kashif Sarwar Paracha, Islamabad Bar Council member Fiaz Jandram and Balochistan-based lawyer Azam Kamrani for their appointment to the court.

The CJP, however, deferred the decision on these names at a previous meeting.

According to the Islamabad High Court Act 2010, the total strength of its judges is seven. Currently, only four judges are working in the IHC where more than 18,000 cases are pending.

Besides CJ Minallah, the other judges are Justice Aamir Farooq, who is the senior puisne judge of the IHC, Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb.

Published in Dawn, November 12th, 2019