ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) has convened a meeting on January 3 to deliberate elevation of junior judge of High Court to the Supreme Court.

The meeting would be held at the Supreme Court building on Monday. The statement issued by the acting secretary PBC said the elevation of the junior judges of the high court to the apex court is the violation of the seniority principle.

It expressed concerned over again proposing name of Lahore High Court (LHC) junior judge Justice Ayesha Malik, who is at Sr No 4 in seniority list, while superseding three senior judges of the LHC, including its chief justice, for next meeting of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP).

The statement said that the name of the same judge was earlier disapproved by the JCP.

In September this year, the JCP had met to consider her nomination but consensus could not be developed among the members.

Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed has again proposed Justice Malik’s name, a judge of the LHC, for her elevation in the Supreme Court. The next JCP meeting will be held on January 6th.

Justice Malik became an LHC judge in March 2012 and is currently on number four on the LHC judge seniority list. In case of her elevation, she will work as a SC judge until June 2031. She will also become the chief justice of Pakistan after the retirement of Justice Yahya Afridi in January 2030.

Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed, Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Khalid Jawed Khan and Law Minister Dr Farogh Naseem had supported her nomination, while Justice Maqbool Baqar, Justice Sardar Tariq Masood and Justice (retd) Dost Muhammad Khan and PBC representative in the JCP Akhtar Hussain had opposed it.

Justice Qazi Faez Isa, another member of the JCP had not attended the said meeting.

No female judge has ever been elevated to the Supreme Court in the judicial history of Pakistan.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021