ISLAMABAD: The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed on Thursday approved the nomination of two prominent lawyers, Babar Sattar and Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, for appointment as judges of the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

The meeting of JCP — which comprises besides the chief justice of Pakistan senior most judges of the Supreme Court, chief justice and senior most judge of the Islamabad High Court, law minister, attorney general, members of the Pakistan Bar Council and Islamabad Bar Council — was held in the Supreme Court building under Article 175-A of the Constitution.

Last month, IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah proposed the names of Mr Sattar and Mr Jahangiri for the two positions.

Prior to the JCP meeting two sub-committees — one headed by senior puisne judge of the Supreme Court Justice Mushir Alam and IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah and the other comprising apex court judge Umar Ata Bandial, IHC’s Justice Aamer Farooq, Attorney General for Pakistan Khalid Jawed Khan and Vice Chairman of the Islamabad Bar Council Qazi Rafiuddin Babar — examined the credentials and professional skills of the candidates.

Refers recommendations to the Parliamentary Committee on Judges Appointments

Mr Sattar has studied Master of Law (LLM) at the Harvard School of Law. He is also a writer, columnist and analyst.

Mr Jahangiri, a former advocate general for Islamabad, is an expert in criminal, constitutional and civil laws. He was elected as president of the Islamabad High Court Bar Association in 2016. Previously, he was president of the District Bar Association of Islamabad.

The JCP has referred the recommendations to the Parliamentary Committee on Judges Appointments.

On Nov 21, the JCP had deferred the confirmation of three additional judges of IHC. They were given extension for six months.

In November last year, the JCP recommended the appointment of three lawyers as additional judges, and the nominations were unanimously confirmed by the parliamentary committee on Dec 4.

Currently, there are four confirmed judges — Chief Justice Athar Minallah, Senior Puisne Judge Aamer Farooq, Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb — at the IHC in addition to three additional judges.

Published in Dawn, December 4th, 2020