Parliamentary Committee greenlights elevation of judges to SC

ISLAMABAD: The Parliamentary Committee on the Appointment of Judges ratified the nominations for the Supreme Court, forwarded by the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) on Friday.

This decision was reached during a meeting held in Islamabad, which reviewed candidates for the country's highest judicial body.

The committee unanimously agreed on all candidates presented by the JCP. These included Malik Shahzad Ahmad Khan, the Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court; Aqeel Ahmad Abbasi, the Chief Justice of the Sindh High Court; and Shahid Bilal, a justice at the Lahore High Court.

The JCP had previously deliberated on these appointments last week, proposing these names for the Supreme Court’s three vacant positions. This session, presided over by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, aimed to fill seats left open by retirements and resignations.

Chief Justice Isa had convened this crucial JCP session last month, where discussions focused on candidates from a pool of nine judges, which included the chief justices of both the Lahore and Sindh High Courts.

The meeting featured prominent JCP members, including Justices Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Munib Akhtar, Yahaya Afridi, and Amin-ud-Din Khan.

Other notable attendees were Justice (retd) Manzoor Ahmed Malik, Federal Minister for Law Azam Nazir Tarar, Attorney General Mansoor Usman Awan, and Pakistan Bar Council representative advocate Akhtar Hussain.

The current constitution allows for 17 Supreme Court judges, but only 14 are serving, including Chief Justice Isa.

The vacancies arose following the retirement of former Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial and the resignations of Justices Ijazul Ahsan and Syed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi.