JCP meets tomorrow to discuss judges’ nomination

ISLAMABAD: The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) will be meeting tomorrow (Tuesday) to discuss the “nomination of judges for constitutional benches in the Supreme Court (SC).

The JCP has been summoned by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi on Tuesday at 2:00 pm.

Senior puisne Judge Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Aminuddin Khan, Senator Farooq H. Naek, member of the National Assembly Sheikh Aftab Ahmed, former senator Roshan Khursheed Bharucha, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, Attorney General for Pakistan Mansoor Usman Awan, senior SC advocate Akhtar Hussain, Senator Faraz, and MNA Omer will be attending the JCP.

The JCP is responsible for nominating judges for constitutional benches in the SC and high courts, as per the new Article 191A recently introduced in the 26th Constitutional Amendment.

The amendment to Article 175A of the Constitution reconstituted the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) with the inclusion of four members of parliament — two each from the treasury and opposition, one from the National Assembly and the other from the Senate.

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Earlier, the committee consisted of five SC judges (including the CJP as its chairman), the Attorney General for Pakistan, the federal law minister, a former chief justice and a senior advocate nominated by the Pakistan Bar Council.

The amendment also empowered the JCP to evolve criteria for assessment, evaluation and fitness for appointment of judges. If a high court judge’s performance is deemed “inefficient,” an improvement period will be granted. If the judge fails to improve, a report will be submitted by the JCP to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), which is the forum with the authority to remove judges over misconduct.

PTI has also announced joining the JCP despite continuing to criticise the amendment.