ISLAMABAD: The Ju­­d­icial Commission of Pakis­tan (JCP) is expected to meet next week to consider an extension in the term of the constitutional ben­ches of the Supreme Court.

The meeting on June 19 will be chaired by Chief Justice Yahya Afridi.

Under the 26th Amen­d­ment, a seven-judge constitutional bench was for­med on November 5, 2024, for a period of 60 days.

It inlcuded justices Am­­in­uddin Khan, Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Moham­­mad Ali Mazhar, Ayesha A. Malik, Hassan Azhar Rizvi, Musar­rat Hilali, Naeem Akhtar Afghan and Shahid Bilal Hassan.

In December, the bench’s tenure was extended for six months.

In February, the constitutional bench was exp­a­n­ded to 13 members with the inclusion of justices Hashim Khan Kakar, Sa­­lahuddin Panhwar, Sha­k­eel Ahmad, Aamer Farooq and Ishtiaq Ibrahim.

Earlier, CJP Afridi had also constituted committees for setting a criteria for the appointment of ju­­dges to all high courts and constitutional benches of superior courts.

Rules for judges’ evaluation

The commission’s meeting next week will also discuss new rules for evaluating the performance of high court judges.

The rules would be framed under sub-section 20 of Arti­cle 175A of the Constitution.

The Constitution emp­owers the JCP to review the performance of high court judges annually.

Under Article 175A, any judge whose performance was found to be subpar would be given a specified period for improvement.

If, upon completion of the time period, the judge’s performance is again found to be unsatisfactory, the JCP would submit a report to the Supreme Judicial Council.

Published in Dawn, June 12th, 2025