ISLAMABAD, May 22: The Parliamentary Committee on Judicial Appointments approved on Tuesday elevation of Lahore High Court Chief Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed to the Supreme Court as judge.

A meeting of the committee, presided over by its acting chairman Aftab Shabaan Mirani, also cleared the way for Justice Umar Atta Bandial to become new Chief Justice of the LHC.

It approved the appointment of three session judges as additional judges of the Sindh High Court.

They are Abdul Rasool Memon, Naimatullah Phulpoto and Sadiq Hussain Bhatti.

Mr Mirani told reporters after the meeting that the decision had been taken with consensus.

He said under the 19th Amendment, the parliamentary committee could only consider the names recommended by the Judicial Commission and not add any name.

The committee had to meet again in the evening to take the final decision after it had failed to reach consensus on some appointments earlier in the day.

A meeting of the Judicial Commission, presided over by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, had on Friday recommended the names of Justice Azmat Saeed as Supreme Court judge and Justice Umar Ata as Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court.

The commission, however, deferred till June 2 the appointment of 10 additional judges to the Sindh High Court.