ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) and the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) on Saturday demanded immediate confirmation of 13 additional judges of the Lahore High Court (LHC) whose fate will be decided by the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) on April 19.

The JCP is meeting to consider either confirmation or extension in the tenure of 13 additional judges of LHC for another six months or a year who were elevated to the high court last year.

The judges to be either be made permanent judges or given extension in the tenure by the JCP on April 19 are: Justice Sohail Nasir, Justice Shakil Ahmad, Justice Safdar Saleem Shahid, Justice Ahmad Nadeem Arshad, Justice Muhammad Tariq Nadeem, Justice Muhammad Amjad Rafiq, Justice Abid Hussain Chattha, Justice Anwar Hussain, Justice Ali Zia Bajwa, Justice Sultan Tanvir Ahmad, Justice Muhammad Raza Qureshi, Justice Muhammad Shan Gul and Justice Raheel Kamran Sheikh.

Disagreement and controversy has marred the elevation of these judges to the LHC for a long time as a number of lists containing names of the proposed candidates were circulated and at a meeting held on Jan 13, 2021, Lahore High Court Chief Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan had withdrawn the list of 16 nominees who were supposed to be elevated as judges of the superior judiciary because of the row. As a result of this situation, the JCP meeting, headed by former Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed, had to be postponed for finalising a new list for consideration of the JCP.

President of SCBA Muhammad Ahsan Bhoon in a statement expressed the apprehension that the JCP might consider extension rather than confirmation of 13 additional judges as recommended by the LHC Chief Justice.

Published in Dawn, April 17th, 2022