ISLAMABAD: The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) Monday recommended the names of Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Shahid Waheed of the Lahore High Court (LHC) and Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi of Sindh High Court (SHC) for their elevation to the apex court.

However, the Commission with a majority of five to four deferred the elevation of Justice Shafi Siddiqui of the SHC. The JCP, presided over by Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial and participated by four senior judges of SC – Justice Qazi Faez Isa, Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, and Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah – and one retired judge of the Supreme Court Justice (retd) Sarmad Jalal Usmani, Federal Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar, Attorney General for Pakistan Ashtar Ausaf, and a representative of the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) Akhtar Hussain, held a meeting in the Supreme Court, Islamabad.

Justice Isa, the senior puisne judge, in a letter had requested the CJP, Umar Ata Bandial, to withdraw the names of the three junior judges who have been rejected by the Commission in its last meeting of July 28.

The PBC and the Supreme Court Bar Association on October 22 expressed pleasure over the proposal of IHC CJ Minallah, expressed serious concerns and disapproved the nominations of three junior judges from the LHC and the SHC for their elevation to the Supreme Court.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022