ISLAMABAD: The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP), unanimously, endorsed the Sindh High Court (SHC) chief justice’s proposal that all the existing judges of the SHC are nominated to be the judges of Constitutional Benches for expeditious disposal of the existing huge backlog of cases.
The Commission allowed this arrangement until 24th November. The matter will again be taken by JCP on 25th November.
The second meeting of the Commission constituted under the 26th Constitutional Amendment was held in the Supreme Court on Friday, which was chaired by Chief Justice of Pakistan/Chairman JCP Yahya Afridi to consider a single point agenda of formation of a Constitutional Bench in the High Court of Sindh.
The meeting was attended by Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Aminud Din Khan and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail (via video link); Chief Justice SHC Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui, Federal Minister for Law and Justice Azam Nazeer Tarar, Attorney-General for Pakistan Mansoor Usman Awan, Senator Farooq Hamid Naek, Senator Syed Shibli Faraz; MNA Sheikh Aftab Ahmad, MNA Omar Ayub Khan, Roshan Khurshid Barucha, Sindh Minister of Law Ziaul Hassan Lanjar and member Sindh Bar Council Qurban Ali Malano.
The Registrar Supreme Court also attended as Secretary to the Commission.
In the first meeting, held on November 5, the JCP by a majority of 7 to 5 named Justice Aminud Din Khan as the head of seven-member constitutional bench in the Supreme Court. The constitutional also includes judges from all the four provinces; Justice Aminud Din and Justice Ayesha A Malik from Punjab, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Hassan Azhar Rizvi from Sindh, Justice ?Jamal Khan Mandokhail and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan from Balochistan and Justice Mussarat Hilali from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The JCP constituted the bench in 7-5 split decision, with a majority of the members voted in favour of the constitutional bench. The sources claimed that CJP Afridi, senior-most judges Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Muneeb Akhtar and PTI members in the Parliament – Omar Ayub and Shibli Faraz – opposed the decision.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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