ISLAMABAD: The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Gulzar Ahmed will decide the fate of three additional judges of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) after Eid holidays.

Islamabad High Court (IHC) administration has written a letter to the JCP for convening meeting to deliberate upon whether the service of three additional judges – Justice Fiaz Ahmed Anjum Jandran, Justice Ghulam Azam Qambrani and Justice Lubna Saleem Pervaiz – may be confirmed or otherwise.

Sources said that the JCP will comprise the CJP Gulzar Ahmed, IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah, senior judges of the Supreme Court and the IHC. Besides, the attorney general of Pakistan Khalid Jawed Khan, law minister Barrister Farogh Naseem and representative of the Islamabad Bar Council (IBC) will also attend the meeting.

On Nov 21, 2019 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.

They were appointed as additional judges for period of one year after which the JCP was scheduled to examine their performance before their confirmation and permanent induction in the superior judiciary.

JCP in November last year did not confirm these additional judges since there performance was not up to the mark. However, there was a view that due to Covid-19 pandemic, the courts remained closed and comparatively heard fewer cases.

Subsequently, the commission has extended their tenure and they were given six more months to improve the performance.

Under Article 175-A of the Constitution, JCP recommends for the appointment and confirmation of the judges, whereas the Parliamentary Committee on Judges Appointment endorses these recommendations.

There are currently four judges in the IHC in addition to these three additional judges. They include Chief Justice Athar Minallah, Senior Puisne Judge Aamer Farooq, Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb.

Published in Dawn, May 12th, 2021