JCP to consider elevation of SHC judge to SC on 28th

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Bar Council (PBC), the apex body of the legal fraternity, will chose next week the name of most potential and senior lawyer of the Supreme Court (SC) as its member for the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP), a constitutional form for appointment of judges in the superior judiciary.

Another meeting of JCP headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan as its chairman is being held On July 28 to consider elevation of a Sindh High Court (SHC) junior judge, Muhammad Ali Mazhar, to the Supreme Court.

Earlier, the Commission on July 13 had approved the nomination of Balochistan High Court (BHC) Chief Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail to the apex court. However, the Commission deferred the matter related to elevation of Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, who is fifth on SHC seniority.

Two-year term of the PBC representative in the JCP, Akhtar Hussain, ended two months ago however, the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) did not nominate so far its new member for the JCP as critics held the PBC responsible for its political maneuverings for nominating the member.

“I have called the meeting of the Executive Committee on July 27 for deliberating over the nomination of the most potential and senior advocate of the Supreme Court for JCP”, Khushdil Khan, Vice Chairman Pakistan Bar Council told The News on Saturday.

Earlier, he said the meeting was convened on July 26 but to some engagements of the senior members of the Committee, it was convened now on July 27 in order to finalise the nomination of its member for JCP.

When asked that critics are alleging the delay of nomination of PBC members for JCP due to political maneuverings and groups in the lawyers’ community, he rejected the allegations and said that they were trying to have a senior lawyer of the Supreme Court be nominated as its member in the JCP. “We will be able to nominate on July 26 representative of the Pakistan Bar Council in the JCP whose meeting has been convened by the Chief Justice of Pakistan on July 28”, the PBC vice chairman said.

It is pertinent to mention here that JCP consists of a total of nine members: the Chief Justice of Pakistan, four senior judges of the Supreme Court, a former chief justice or judge of the Supreme Court nominated by the serving Chief Justice in consultation with the four serving judges of the Supreme Court aforementioned.

A lawyer nominated by the PBC also attends the meeting of JCP but during the last meeting held on July 13, the PBC was not represented due to delay in the nomination of member.

During the meeting, the JCP had extensively deliberated on the elevation of Chief Justice Balochistan High Court (BHC) Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel as well as Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, judge of Sindh High Court (SHC) to Supreme Court of Pakistan.

After thorough deliberations, the Commission had approved the elevation of BHC Chief Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel as a judge of the Supreme Court and also approved the name of Naeem Akhtar Afghan, senior Judge as Chief Justice Balochistan High Court respectively.

The Commission however, could not develop consensus on the elevation of Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, judge of Sindh High Court to Supreme Court of Pakistan and deferred the matter.