Six-member committee to determine selection procedure for judges

ISLAMABAD: A six-member committee has been formed to determine the criteria for selecting judges for High Courts and for the Constitutional Benches.

The committee will be headed by Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, and also includes Attorney General Mansoor Usman Awan.

CJP Afridi reconstitutes Supreme Court committees; adds newly appointed judges

Senior lawyers Farooq H Naik – appointed from the government’s side, and Ali Zafar – from the opposition side, are also made part of the committee. Moreover, Ahsan Bhoon is part of the committee to represent the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC), while Niyaz Muhammad Khan has been nominated as the secretary of the committee.

JUDGES TRANSFER AND SENIORITY CONTROVERSY

Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi, after a meeting of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP), announced the transfer of three justices from the Lahore High Court (LHC), the Sindh High Court (SHC) and the Balochistan High Court (BHC) to the Islamabad High Court (IHC). The IHC legal community, however, came out to protest against these transfers, claiming that this will affect the seniority of IHC justices. The seniority then comes into play for elevation to IHC chief justice or for Supreme Court appointments.

Former IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq – now serving as a Supreme Court judge – had earlier issued a decision saying that transferring judges is different from appointing judges, and that the former does not impact the seniority.

Attorney General Awan had also spoken to media saying that he does not agree with CJP Afridi on the issue of transferring justices from one High Court to another.

Judges’ seniority list challenged in SC

The new seniority lists have also been challenged in the Supreme Court as the disagreement between the JCP and IHC legal community continues.

Now, this six-member committee has been formed to determine the procedure for appointments of judges.