Judicial Commission of Pakistan Saturday approved rules for regulating mechanisms for the assessment and evaluation of judges for appointments to the superior judiciary. It also extended tenure of seven-judge constitutional bench of the Supreme Court for another six months.
The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (Appointment of Judges) Rules, 2024, were approved in two back-to-back sessions, presided over by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi, the commission’s chairman. The commission — reconstituted under the 26th Constitutional Amendment – now included members of parliament and judges.
After the rules were approved, the commission members were asked to again submit nominations for appointments as additional judges of different high courts in accordance with the two approved proformas developed by the rules-making sub-committee on Dec 16.
According to reports the members would make their submissions by Jan 03, 2025, after which a consolidated list would be formed to ascertain the credentials of the nominees – the names already making rounds earlier can be added again to the list for appointment as additional judges.
The first meeting on Saturday began at 11am and lasted for around eight hours. The session thoroughly reviewed draft rules and considered feedback on them. After extensive deliberations, the proposed rules were approved with certain amendments.
Tenure extended till July
The second meeting, which discussed the proposed rules clause by clause, extended the tenure of the seven-judge constitutional bench of the Supreme Court for another six months. The tenure, set to expire in January, has been extended till July. During Saturday’s meeting, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail suggested the constitutional bench should include all SC judges.
However, the decision to retain the constitutional bench’s present composition was made by a majority of seven to six. Senator Ali Zafar of PTI said the idea of including all judges in the constitutional bench should be considered after a full court determines the legality of the 26th amendment.
The meeting also decided to delete Rule 3 of the proposed rules, which stated: “ The Leader of the House, the Leader of the Opposition and the Speaker of the National Assembly, when making nominations are expected to ensure that members nominated to the [Judicial] Commission have legal background”.
The commission also decided to delete Rule 13(4), which suggested that the nominees attend the commission’s meeting to discuss their elevation.
Voting by show of hands
Similarly, the requirement of Rule 13(6), which suggested that voting on the nominations would be conducted by secret ballot, was removed. The meeting allowed voting by show of hands. The commission also decided that the input from intelligence agencies regarding the credentials of a nominee should be supported by evidence.
It will be the commission’s discretion to evaluate the evidence.
Reason for bypassing seniors
The approved rules also suggested that if a senior judge of the high court is bypassed for appointment as chief justice or a district court judge is superseded for elevation to the high court, the commission will give cogent reasons for its decision.
The meetings were attended by justices Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Munib Akhtar, Aminud Din Khan and Jamal Khan Mandokhail of the Supreme Court; the chief justices and senior judges of all five high courts; Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar; Attorney General Mansoor Usman Awan; and parliamentarians.
According to website of the top court the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi, who is also Chairman of the Chairman Judicial Commission of Pakistan, chaired the two consecutive sessions of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan at the Supreme Court, Islamabad today, 21st December 2024 . The agenda of these meetings were the consideration of the proposed Judicial Commission of Pakistan (Appointment of Judges) Rules 2024 and the extension of the period of nomination of Judges to the Constitutional Benches of the Supreme Court.
The first meeting began at 11am and lasted for 8 hours. The session thoroughly reviewed the draft of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (Appointment of Judges) Rules 2024. The Commission also considered the public feedback received on the proposed Rules, and after extensive deliberations, approved the proposed Judicial Commission (Appointment of Judges) Rules 2024 with certain amendments.
In the second meeting, the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (Supreme Court), by majority, approved an extension in the period of the already nominated Judges to the Constitutional Benches of the Supreme Court, for a period of six months.
Those who attended first meeting includes Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Judge Supreme Court, and Justice Munib Akhtar, Judge Supreme Court attended the meeting (through Video link), Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan, Judge Supreme Court, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail Judge Supreme Court, Justice Amir Farooq, Chief Justice Islamabad High Court, Justice Muhammad Hashim Khan Kakar, Chief Justice, High Court of Balochistan, Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim, Chief Justice, Peshawar High Court, Justice Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui, Chief Justice, High Court of Sindh, Justice Miss Aalia Neelum, Chief Justice, Lahore High Court, Justice Shujaat Ali Khan, Senior Puisne Judge, Lahore High Court Justice Ijaz Anwar, Senior Puisne Judge, Peshawar High Court, Justice Muhammad Ejaz Swati, Senior Puisne Judge, High Court of Balochistan, Justice Muhammad Karim Khan Agha, Head of the Constitution Bench, High Court of Sindh, Azam Nazeer Tarar, Federal Minister for Law and Mansoor Usman Awan, Attorney General for Pakistan, Sheikh Aftab Ahmad, MNA, Barrister Ali Gohar, MNA, Barrister Ali Zafar, Senator, Farooq Hamid Naek, Senator, Roshan Khursheed Bharucha, Nominee of the Speaker National Assembly, Sarfraz Bugti, Chief Minister/Law Minister Balochistan, Sohaib Ahmed Malik, Minister for Law Government of Punjab, Zia ul Hassan Lanjar, Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs, Sindh, Mr. Aftab Alam Afridi, Minister for Law, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Shamshad Ahmed Bajwa, Member Punjab Bar Council, Mr Qurban Ali Malano, Member, Sindh Bar Council, Munir Hussain Lughmani, Member, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council, Muhammad Ayoub Tareen, Member, Balochistan Bar Council. Rana Muhammad Tanveer Member Judicial Commission Islamabad attended the meeting (through video link).
The second meeting was attended by Mr Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Judge Supreme Court, and Justice Munib Akhtar, Judge Supreme Court attended the meeting (through Video link), Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan, Judge Supreme Court, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail Judge Supreme Court, Azam Nazeer Tarar, Federal Minister for Law and Mansoor Usman Awan, Attorney General for Pakistan, Sheikh Aftab Ahmad, MNA, Barrister Ali Gohar, MNA, Barrister Ali Zafar, Senator, Mr Farooq Hamid Naek, Senator, Roshan Khursheed Bharucha, Nominee of the Speaker National Assembly and Advocate Supreme Court Akhtar Hussain.
