JCP meets today to discuss elevation of two lawyers as IHC judges
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ISLAMABAD: The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) is expected to deliberate on Thursday over the elevation of two prominent lawyers to the position of judge of the Islamabad High Court (IHC).
Picked by IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah for the coveted posts, the nominees are Babar Sattar and Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri.
The JCP is also expected to consider elevation to fill the office of the chief justice of the Peshawar High Court which fell vacant after the death of Justice Waqar Seth, who died of coronavirus on Nov 13.
As commanded by Article 175-A of the Constitution, the JCP meeting will be presided over by Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed and attended by the IHC chief justice in addition to four senior most judges of the Supreme Court, namely Justice Mushir Alam, Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Maqbool Baqar.
Senior puisne judge of the IHC Justice Aamer Farooq will also attend the JCP meeting in addition to federal Law Minister Dr Farogh Naseem, Attorney General for Pakistan Khalid Jawed Khan, and Senior Advocate nominated by the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) Akhtar Hussain. Islamabad Bar Council’s Vice Chairman Qazi Rafiuddin Babar is also a member of the JCP.
Already the antecedents committee headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial and the professional committee under Justice Mushir Alam had met to consider the nominations for the IHC.
Interestingly, when the JCP will consider the recommendations forwarded by the IHC CJ, Justice Qazi Faez Isa will also be sitting in the meeting who was recently represented by Babar Sattar before a ten-judge full court of the Supreme Court hearing his petition against the filing of the presidential reference which was quashed by the court. Before the Supreme Court, Babar Sattar had mainly focused his arguments around the Income Tax laws and the implication of Section 116 of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001.
Mr Sattar had tried to convince the apex court through his arguments that the tax liability was a matter between the citizen and the state and no tax demand could be generated against the citizen except by competent authority under the tax laws.
Published in Dawn, December 3rd, 2020
