ISLAMABAD, July 29: President Pervez Musharraf on Thursday elevated the chief justice of the Peshawar High Court and two of the senior-most judges of the Lahore High Court to fill three seats in the Supreme Court, which have been lying vacant since January.

The judges are: Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, the Chief Justice of Peshawar High Court; and two judges from the Lahore High Court, Justice M. Javed Butter and Justice Tassadaq Hussain Jillani. The president also appointed Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk as Chief Justice of the Peshawar High Court.

According to the notification issued by the Law Ministry, after the approval of the President, three senior judges have been elevated to the Supreme Court when four seats of the judges become vacant after the implementation of the government- MMA accord on the 17th constitutional bill when the three-year extension granted to judges to continue working at their posts was withdrawn.

The oath-taking ceremony of the three judges will be held on Saturday at the Supreme Court building. Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Nazim Hussain Siddiqui will administer the oath of office to the judges.

Soon after the passage of the 17th Constitutional amendment, the then chief justice of Pakistan, Justice Sheikh Riaz along with two judges of the Supreme Court, namely Justice Qazi Muhammad Farooq and Justice Munir A Sheikh and four other judges of the High Court who were enjoying extension under the legal framework order (LFO) were retired.

Under the LFO, the retirement age of the judges of the Supreme Court was raised from 65 to 68 years, and of the High Courts from 62 to 65 years respectively, by amending Article 179 of the Constitution, but the concession was later withdrawn under the 17th amendment on the insistence of the MMA.