• Judicial commission likely to take up nomination of judges for constitutional benches
• One lawmaker each from PML-N and PPP, two PTI members also part of panel

ISLAMABAD: The Jud­i­cial Commission of Pakis­tan (JCP) is all set to meet on Nov 5 after it was reconstituted in light of the 26th Amendment recently pas­sed by both houses of parliament, paving the way for the inclusion of parliamentarians in the high-powered body to nominate superior courts judges.

The JCP meeting summoned by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yayha Afridi is expected to discuss issues related to the establishment of the secretariat of the JCP and the nomination of judges for constitutional benches in the Supreme Court.

The commission may also discuss any other agenda with the permission of the chair. The 26th Amendment envisaged the formation of constitutional benches in the Supreme Court to take up cases requiring interpretation of constitutional provisions.

Presided over by CJP Afridi, the meeting is exp­e­cted to be attended by senior puisne judge Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Ami­nuddin Khan, Senator Farooq Hamid Naek, MNA Sheikh Aftab Ahmad, Roshan Khur­sheed Bharucha, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, Senator Syed Shibli Faraz, MNA Omar Ayub, Attorney General for Pakistan Mansoor Usman Awan, and Pakistan Bar Council representative Akhtar Hussain.

Earlier in the day, parliamentary nominations for the judicial commiss­ion were sent to the Sup­reme Court by National Asse­mbly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq after consultations with the Senate chairman and parliamentary leaders.

PTI MNA Omar Ayub and PML-N lawmaker from Attock Sheikh Aftab Ahmad have been nominated from the National Assembly while PPP Senator Farooq Naek and PTI’s Shibli Faraz have been nominated to represent the upper house of parliament. The nominations came a day after a Senate panel headed by Senator Naek endorsed a proposal to increase the number of Supreme Court judges to 25.

Roshan Bharucha has been nominated as a woman member of the judicial commission by the speaker. She has served as a minister in Balochistan between 1999 and 2002. She was a senator from March 2003 to March 2009. She also served as a caretaker minister in 2018.

A statement issued by the NA Secretariat said, “According to the 26th Amendment, five members of the parliament are to be included in the judicial commission. The nomination of names from the parliament is on the basis of equal representation from both the government and the opposition. The Supreme Court has received all nominations.”

Before the 26th Amend­ment, the JCP comprised a majority of judges.

The recent constitutional amendment, however, changed the JCP’s composition to include two members of the National Assembly, two members of the Senate, and one woman or non-Muslim member, from outside parliament, nominated by the NA speaker.

The recently amended Article 175A stated that a 13-member judicial commission, comprising the CJP, three most senior judges of the Supreme Court, most senior judge of the constitutional benches, law minister, attorney general for Pakistan, a nominee from the Pakistan Bar Council, two members each from the National Assembly and the Senate, and a woman or non-Muslim from outside parliament will work for the appointment of the judges in the Supreme Court, high courts, and the Federal Shariat Court.

Critics, however, reject the amendment as an attack on the independence of judiciary. The International Commission of Jurists had also raised alarm over significant institutional changes in the structure and functioning of Pakistan’s judicial system, particularly with respect to the Supreme Court and high courts.

Published in Dawn, November 3rd, 2024