President Dr Arif Alvi on Wednesday approved the elevation of three high court judges to the Supreme Court (SC).

Under Article 175A of the Constitution, he approved outgoing Islamabad High Court (IHC) chief justice Athar Minallah, Sindh High Court Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi and Lahore High Court Justice Shahid Waheed to the apex court, a statement issued by the President’s Secretariat said.

President Alvi also approved Justice Aamer Farooq’s appointment as the IHC chief justice.

On Monday, the Parl­i­amentary Committee on the Appointment of Judges had approved the elevation of Justice Wah­e­­ed and Justice Rizvi to the Supreme Court.

The eight-member panel, headed by Senator Farooq H. Naek, had examined the Jud­icial Commission of Pakis­tan’s (JCP) recommendations for elevating the two judges.

The committee had on November 4 approved the JCP’s recommendations for the promotion of Justice Mina­l­lah to the SC and Justice Farooq as the IHC chief justice, respectively. However, it had deferred the consideration of the names of Justice Waheed and Justice Rizvi for its meeting slated for Nov 10.

Earlier on Nov 2, the committee had decided to consider the names on Nov 10. However, it gave the nod for the elevation of Justice Min­allah on Nov 4 at an uns­ch­e­duled meeting and cleared Justice Waheed and Justice Rizvi on Monday at yet an­­other unscheduled meeting.

On Oct 24, the JCP after a prolonged meeting of three-and-a-half hours had unanimously approved the promotion of Justice Minallah. It gave a divided nod to Justice Waheed and Justice Rizvi — both fourth on the seniority list of their respective courts — with a majority of five to four votes, but drop­ped outright the suggestion about the SHC’s Justice Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui.