A five-member committee has been formed under the chair of incumbent judge of top court Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail to draft rules regarding procedure and criteria for assessing, evaluating, and determining the fitness for appointment of judges, top court registrar office stated on Friday.
Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi decided to form the committee during meeting of Judicial Commission of Pakistan (CJP) which members include Attorney General for Pakistan Mansoor Usman Awan, two Senators Barrister Syed Ali Zafar and Farooq Hamid Naek and a senior advocate of Supreme Court Akhtar Hussain.
The committee has been asked to furnish draft rules in the matter by December 15,2024 whereas other team member to provide support for the cause include Secretary JCP Niaz Muhammad Khan, two research officers of the top court Zafar Iqbal and Qaiser Abbas respectively.
The JCP also approved nomination of a top court’ Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan for the constitutional benches of the apex court. In its second meeting, the JCP (Peshawar High Court) the agenda of appointment of Additional Judges for the Peshawar High Court was deferred till 21st December, 2024. It was also decided to extend the date of submission of nominations for appointment of Additional Judges till 10th December, 2024.
The JCP (Sindh) nominated Justice Adnan-ul-Karim Memon and Justice Agha Faisal as Judges of Constitutional Benches of the High Court of Sindh by a majority vote. In meeting of the JCP (High Court of Sindh), the agenda for appointment of Additional Judges for the High Court of Sindh was deferred till 21st December, 2024. It was also decided to extend the date of submission of nominations for appointment of Additional Judges till 10th December, 2024.
In a preliminary joint meeting, the Commission received a detailed presentation from IT experts on how technology could be used to streamline decision-making and reduce the substantial paper load. CJP Afridi noted that this initiative would ease the burden on the Secretariat and members of the Commission. The members expressed their support for gradually adopting technology to improve efficiency.
Meetings of the JCP High Court of Sindh and Peshawar High Court were convened on Friday under chair of the CJP Afridi. Justice Munib Akhtar of the top court joined the meeting through video link Supreme Court, Branch Registry, Karachi.
Participants of the meetings include, Supreme Court justices including Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui, Chief Justice of High Court of Sindh, Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim, Chief Justice of Peshawar High Court, Justice Ijaz Anwar, Judge of Peshawar High Court, Justice Muhammad Karim Khan Agha, Judge of High Court of Sindh, Azam Nazeer Tarar, Federal Minister for Law and Justice, Mansoor Usman Awan AGP, Sheikh Aftab Ahmad, MNA, Barrister Ali Gohar, MNA, Barrister Ali Zafar, Senator, Farooq Hamid Naek, Senator, Zia ul Hassan Lanjhar, Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs, Sindh, Aftab Alam Afridi, Minister for Law, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Akhtar Hussain, Senior ASC, Roshan Khursheed Bharucha, Nominee of the Speaker National Assembly, Munir Hussain Lughmani, Representative of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council and Qurban Ali Malano, Representative of Sindh Bar Council.
