ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi on Monday appointed Babar Sattar and Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri as additional judges of the Islamabad High Court.

According to a Ministry of Law and Justice notification, the president appointed the two additional judges in exercise of powers conferred by Article 197 of the constitution for a period of one year with effect from the date they take the oath of their offices.

The Parliamentary Committee on Judges’ Appointment had approved the appointment of Mr Sattar and Mr Jahangiri as judges of the IHC on Dec 21.

Both Mr Sattar and Mr Jahangiri had appeared before the eight-member committee, comprising Senators Farooq H. Naek of PPP, Javed Abbasi of PML-N, Azam Swati of PTI, Sarfraz Bugti of BAP and National Assembly members Raja Pervez Ashraf of PPP, Rana Sanaullah of PML-N and Ali Mohammad Khan and Mohammad Asim Nazeer of PTI.

Ali Mohammad Khan, the Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, had reportedly opposed the nomination of Mr Sattar and did not cast his vote in his favour.

With these appointment, the total strength of IHC judges has gone up to nine.

Recently, the parliament increased the sanctioned strength of the IHC from seven to 10.

Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2020