• No district judges elevated as CJ Aalia withdraws nomination list
• KBA condemns ‘executive subjugation of judiciary’

ISLAMABAD: The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) on Thursday appointed nine additional judges to the Lahore High Court (LHC) after a thorough consideration.

A meeting of the JCP, presided over by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi, nominated advocates Hassan Nawaz Makhdoom, Malik Waqar Haider Awan, Sardar Akbar Ali, Syed Ahsan Raza Kazmi, Malik Javid Iqbal Wains, Muhammad Jawad Zafar, Khalid Ishaq, Malik Muhammad Awais Khalid, and Chaudhry Sultan Mahmood.

Initially, the JCP meeting, held in the Supreme Court’s conference room, was set to consider 10 nominations for the appointment of additional judges to the LHC. However, the commission chose to recommend only the names of nine individuals.

No district and sessions judges were considered for elevation, as LHC Chief Justice Aalia Neelum withdrew her list. She assured the commission that a new list, including more nominations, would be submitted at a later date.

Similarly, the nominations presented by LHC’s senior puisne judge Shujaat Ali Khan were not considered, as the JCP had previously de-notified Justice Khan as a member of the commission following an objection raised by Justice Munib Akhtar of the Supreme Court.

This objection was based on the interpretation of the third proviso to Article 175(5) of the Constitution, read with Article 1(2) of the 26th Amendment Act (No. XXVI) of 2024. Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan, also a member of the JCP, concurred with the objection, which was subsequently approved by the JCP chairperson.

Before the proceedings began, the members of the commission expressed heartfelt condolences on the death of the wife of Akhtar Hussain, who represents the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) in the commission.

The commission unanimously decided that nominees who did not secure the required majority of the total membership for finalisation this time may be re-nominated for future vacancies.

During the meeting, the nomination of former additional judge Shan Gul, who had not been confirmed earlier, was also discussed. However, JCP members, including Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, suggested that since his name was not before the commission for consideration, his nomination could be reviewed at a later stage.

26th Amendment

In a separate development, Karachi Bar Association (KBA) President Amir Nawaz Warraich and Secretary Rehman Korai, along with their cabinet on behalf of the All Pakistan Lawyers Joint Action Committee, condemned moves to strengthen what they called the “illegitimate” 26th Constitution Amendment.

They also criticised the alleged executive subjugation of the judiciary, including the JCP’s announcement of the appointment of eight new SC judges on Feb 10, the transfer of judges to the Islamabad High Court by the president in consultation with the CJP and concerned chief justices from various high courts, and the alleged granting of seniority to transferred judges without even taking the oath for the IHC.

They labelled the proposed appointments to the Supreme Court as an exercise in court-packing and an effort to alter the status quo before the petitions challenging the 26th Amendment and the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Act were heard.

They also argued that the manner of transfer to the IHC undermines the independence of individual high courts and damages federalism. They emphasised that the transfer process would make high courts and the seniority of their judges subject to outside inductions at the discretion of the president and chief justices concerned, bypassing the constitutional and JCP rules mechanisms for judicial appointments.

They expressed full solidarity with the Islamabad High Court Bar Association, Islamabad District Bar Association and Islamabad Bar Council, as voiced in their joint convention held on Feb 3.

Published in Dawn, February 7th, 2025