ISLAMABAD: The Parliamentary Committee on the Appointment of Judges approved the names proposed by the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) for elevation to the Supreme Court on Friday.
This decision followed a meeting of the parliamentary committee in the federal capital, where the appointment of apex court judges was discussed.
The committee endorsed all the names proposed by the JCP, which included Lahore High Court Chief Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmad Khan, Sindh High Court Chief Justice Aqeel Ahmad Abbasi, and Lahore High Court Justice Shahid Bilal.
Last week, the JCP had forwarded the names of these three high court judges for consideration for elevation to the Supreme Court, awaiting final approval from the parliamentary committee.
The recommended names were proposed during a meeting of the Judicial Commission chaired by Chief Justice Qazi Faiz Isa.
The JCP, established under the 18th Constitutional Amendment, is tasked with appointing judges to the superior judiciary.
It was mandated to consider the names of nine judges, including the Chief Justices of the Lahore High Court and the Sindh High Court, to fill three vacant posts in the Supreme Court.
The meeting, chaired by the CJP, was attended by JCP members Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Yahaya Afridi, Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan, 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.
According to the Constitution, the Supreme Court should have 17 judges, but currently, it has only 14, including the CJP. The three posts need to be filled following the retirement of former Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial and the resignations of Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Syed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi.
