ISLAMABAD, Dec 4: The Judicial Commission for judges' appointment has nominated Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rehman, a judge of the Lahore High Court, as chief justice of the Islamabad High Court.

The name of Justice Rehman, a son of former Supreme Court chief justice Hamoodur Rehman who headed a commission to determine the causes of Pakistan's dismemberment, was proposed at a meeting of the commission, presided over by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, here on Saturday.

Justice Rehman was one of the judges who had declined to take oath under the Provisional Constitution Order promulgated by former president Pervez Musharraf on Nov 3, 2007.

There was no official word about the meeting, but informed sources told Dawn that the JC had also nominated Tariq Anwar Kansi, a district and sessions judge in Quetta, and Riaz Ahmed Khan, an advocate of the Peshawar High Court, as judges of the Islamabad High Court.

The JC meeting was attended by Lahore High Court Chief Justice Khawaja Sharif, Sindh High Court Chief Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany, Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, Balochistan High Court Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, Law Minister Babar Awan and Pakistan Bar Council representative Khalid Ranjha.

The nomination of the judges will now be discussed by an eight-member Parliamentary Committee at its next meeting.

On May 11 this year, the National Assembly had passed a bill for the establishment of a seven-member IHC under the 18th Amendment.

The IHC was originally set up through an ordinance under the Nov 3, 2007, emergency, but it ceased to exist after the Supreme Court declared the emergency unconstitutional on July 31 last year.

The Judicial Commission also proposed to grant a one-year extension to the services of three of four additional judges of the Balochistan High Court and six of nine additional judges of the Sindh High Court.

They are: Justices Jamal Mandokhel, Tahira Safdar Baqri and Noor Mohammad Muskanzai of the BHC and Justices Shahid Anwar Bajwa, Ghulam Sarwar Koral, Tufail H. Ebrahim, Justice Irfan Saadat Khan, Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi and Munib Akhtar of the SHC.

The Supreme Court had on Aug 30 ordered extension of the tenure of all 32 additional judges of the four high courts till its final decision on petitions challenging the 18th Amendment.

Four additional judges of the BHC, seven of the PHC, nine of the SHC and 12 of the LHC have completed their tenure but continue to function because of a stay granted by the apex court to avert an imminent constitutional impasse.

The PC had on Nov 13 approved the nomination of Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry as Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court. He will replace Justice Khawaja Mohammad Sharif who reaches superannuation on Dec 8.