ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) will get three more judges today (Friday), including the first woman to ever serve as an IHC judge.

The Ministry of Law and Justice issued a notification regarding their appointments on Thursday.

The judges, Lubna Saleem Pervaiz, Fiaz Anjum Jadran and Ghulam Azam Qambrani, will take oath on Friday at the high court. IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah will administer the oath to them.

The notification said that the president has appointed three additional judges to the IHC for a year.

Under Article 175-A of the Constitution, the initial appointment of an additional judge in the high court is made for one year. After this term expires, the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) considers the judges for a permanent position, and the Parliamentary Committee on Judges Appointment then considers the JCP’s recommendations.

On Nov 21, the JCP recommended Ms Pervaiz, Mr Jandran and Mr Qambrani as additional judges, and the nominations were unanimously confirmed by the parliamentary committee on Dec 4.

The committee interviewed these candidates for constitutional positions for the first time since it was established in 2010. Under an amendment to Article 175-A that was part of the 18th Amendment, the power to appoint of judges of the superior courts – which was previously done on the advice of the president – was given to the JCP, which is headed by the chief justice of Pakistan, and a parliamentary committee.

There are currently only four judges in the IHC, compared to seven sanctioned posts. They include Chief Justice Athar Minallah, Senior Puisne Judge Aamer Farooq, Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb.

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2019