The head of the LHC proposes five active lawyers; interviews will take place according to modified rules
ISLAMABAD:
Chief justices of four high courts have submitted their applications to the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) for appointment of additional judges, as the process to fill vacancies in the higher judiciary moves forward.
The JCP had invited applications for 10 additional judges of the Lahore High Court (LHC), five of the Sindh High Court (SHC), five of the Balochistan High Court (BHC) and three of the Islamabad High Court (IHC).
Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi, in consultation with the chief justices of the high courts, had invited applications from all JCP members by July 4. It is learned that the chief justices of the three high courts have now forwarded their nominations to the commission.
Out of 11 candidates for the LHC, Chief Justice Aalia Neelum recommended the names of five practicing jurists. Legal circles say this is perhaps the first time that a Chief Justice of a High Court has recommended the appointment of such a large number of sitting judges as additional judges.
The lawyers recommended by the LHC chief justice are Advocate General Punjab Amjad Pervez, Attorney General Punjab Syed Farhad Ali Shah, Attorney General Islamabad Capital Territory Ghulam Sarwar Nihung, Additional Attorney General Munawar Iqbal Dugal and Deputy Attorney General Asad Bajwa.
The remaining candidates are Shireen Imran, Muhammad Ajmal, Kashif Rajwana, Usman Ghani, Ameer Ajam Malik and Khalid Bin Aziz. Interestingly, the two opposition members of the JCP did not recommend any candidate for appointment to the LHC.
“We sent names for the SHC but we did not find anyone willing to sit in other courts,” said Senator Ali Zafar of PTI, a member of the JCP. It is learned that many lawyers are reluctant to give consent to opposition members because they believe their nominations are unlikely to gain approval from the commission.
After the 26th constitutional amendment, former SC judge Syed Mansoor Ali Shah had recommended several lawyers with strong professional reputations, but they failed to achieve the required majority in the JCP.
Lawyers generally believe that without executive support, appointments to higher judicial offices are difficult to obtain. Even nominees proposed by chief justices, they argue, can only be approved if they receive government support in the commission.
For the SHC, Chief Justice Zafar Ahmed Rajput recommended five names.
According to sources, the candidates are sessions judge Suresh Kumar, advocate Humayun, advocate Sara Malkani, additional advocate general Zeeshan Adhi and former additional advocate general Saulat Rizvi.
It is learned that the Chief Justice has once again nominated a candidate belonging to a minority community for his appointment to the SHC. Last year, however, the JCP missed an opportunity to appoint a judge from a minority community.
Since the 18th constitutional amendment in 2010, no member of a minority community has served as a judge in the Supreme Court or any of the country’s five high courts.
For the BHC, Chief Justice Kamran Khan Mulakhail recommended Saleem Lashari, Manzoor Shah and former Supreme Court Bar Association president Mian Rauf Atta. The names of Rehmat Barech, Amir Lehri and Mallag Dashti were also proposed for appointment as additional judges.
A senior lawyer described Mallag Dashti as one of the best practitioners of criminal law in Balochistan and Sindh, highlighting that he belongs to Makran division. However, the Balochistan Bar Council strongly protested against two of these appointments.
For the IHC, Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar recommended Umair Majeed Malik, former ICT advocate general Ayyaz Shaukat and special judge Central Shahrukh Arjumand.
It is also learned that Bar Council of Pakistan representative to the JCP, Ahsan Bhoon, recommended Wajid Gilani for appointment as IHC judge and Shan Gul for appointment to LHC.
Under the amended JCP rules, a committee composed of JCP members will conduct interviews with all candidates before the commission continues with the nomination process.
