The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) on Thursday recommended the confirmation of 11 additional judges for the Lahore High Court (LHC) out of a total list of 13.
Presided over by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi, the JCP met at the Supreme Court (SC), a press release issued by the SC said.
After due consideration of the relevant data forms, antecedents and evaluation material placed before it, the JCP, by a majority, recommended the confirmation of 11 additional judges of the LHC as permanent judges.
These were Justices 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, Chaudhry Sultan Mahmood, Tanveer Ahmad Sheikh, and a female judge, Abher Gul Khan.
The JCP, by a majority, recommended the extension of Additional Judge Tariq Mahmood Bajwa for another six months.
Additional Judge Raja Ghazanfar Ali Khan was “not confirmed”, the press release added.
This week, the JCP, in separate meetings, has recommended making additional judges of multiple high courts permanent, approving three of the Islamabad High Court, 10 of the Sindh High Court, six of the Peshawar High Court and one of the Balochistan High Court.
The confirmation of three IHC ad-hoc judges — Additional Judges Muhammad Azam Khan, Muhammad Asif and Inaam Ameen Minhas —was made despite a letter by JCP member and IHC senior puisne judge Mohsin Akhtar Kayani questioning the competence of his colleagues.