ISLAMABAD, Feb 15: The Supreme Court is expected to get five more judges soon, Dawn has learnt from reliable sources.

Those expected to be elevated to the Supreme Court are Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Sardar Mohammad Aslam, who will be retiring as IHC chief justice on March 8; Sindh High Court Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, who as a high court judge will retire on December 2013; Lahore High Court Chief Justice Sayed Zahid Hussain (retiring on December 2011); Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Tariq Parvez Khan and Balochistan High Court Chief Justice Amanullah Khan Yasinzai.

This will raise the strength of the apex court to 25.

The finance bill approved in June last year had raised the strength of the Supreme Court to 29 from 16 (excluding the chief justice).

The sources said that senior government advisers were working on proposals to clear legal hitches and prepare ground for smooth elevation of the judges.

The elevation of the chief justices to the apex court will be followed by appointment of 13 judges of the Sindh High Court.

However, it is not clear whether the principle of seniority as laid down in the 1996 Al-Jihad Trust case, commonly known as the judges case, and the 1998 Malik Asad Ali case will be followed in the appointment of senior most judges as new chief justices of the five high courts.

With the five new judges, the Supreme Court will have two judges from Balochistan, the sitting Justice Chaudhry Ejaz Yousaf and Justice Amanullah Khan Yasinzai.

Earlier, when the strength of the Supreme Court was 17, Balochistan was represented by three judges deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, Justice Javed Iqbal and Justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmed.

On September 20, 2008, four judges who had been sacked by former president Pervez Musharraf took fresh oath as judges of the Supreme Court with their seniority intact. They are Justice Sardar Mohammad Raza Khan, Justice Nasirul Mulk, Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed and Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany.

This was the second phase of appointment in the apex court, the first being on September 5 when Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, Justice Tassadduq Hussain Jillani and Justice Syed Jamshed Ali were sworn in.