ISAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi has summoned a meeting of the Judicial Commission on November 5, the first meeting after the recent 26th Constitutional Amendment that altered the body’s composition.
As the head of the commission, CJP Afridi will preside over the meeting, which will include justices Mansoor Ali Shah, Munib Akhtar, and Ameen Uddin from the top court. Participants will also include Attorney General for Pakistan Mansoor Usman Awan, Federal Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, and Pakistan Bar Council representative Akhtar Hussain.
In the backdrop of the 26th Amendment, five members of Parliament—two from the government and two from the opposition benches of both houses of the bicameral parliament—along with a female nominee from the Speaker of the National Assembly, have been added to the Judicial Commission.
Earlier today, the National Assembly’s Speaker, in a letter to the Supreme Judicial Commission, nominated Leader of the Opposition Omar Ayub and PML-N’s Sheikh Aftab from the lower house, while Farooq Naik and Shibli Faraz were nominated from the upper house. He also nominated former senator Roshan Khurshid Bharucha for the women’s seat.
The coalition government passed constitutional amendments on October 21 that grant lawmakers increased authority in the appointment of top judges and forming constitutional benches.
Under the 26th Amendment, the commission will include five members of Parliament, ensuring equal representation from both the government and the opposition. The Supreme Court has received all nominations today from the Speaker Ayaz Sadiq.
Sadiq made these nominations after consulting Senate Chairman Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani and representatives from all parliamentary parties. Roshan Khurshid Bharucha, the female member of the commission, is a former senator from Balochistan.
These nominations were made in accordance with sub-paragraph (viii) of clause (2) of Article 175A of the Constitution of Pakistan, which allows the Speaker of the National Assembly to nominate a woman or a non-Muslim to the Judicial Commission.
