The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP), which is responsible for appointing judges to the superior judiciary, elevated Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb to a permanent judge of the Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday.
Presided over by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi, the JCP held its first meeting following the passage of the 27th Constitutional Amendment and the establishment of the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC).
The JCP had appointed Justice Aurangzeb as an ad hoc judge of the apex court in February after elevating him from the Islamabad High Court (IHC),
The forum also approved the elevation of Justice Zafara Ahmed Rajput as the chief justice of the Sindh High Court (SHC), and Justice Kamran Mullahkhail as the chief justice of the Balochistan High Court (BHC).
During the meeting, held at the conference room of the SC building, the JCP had considered the appointment of the SHC chief justice from among the three senior-most judges of the high court.
Those considered for the office included Justice Rajput, Justice Muhammad Iqbal Kalohoro and Justice Mahmood A. Khan.
Similarly, the JCP had also considered the appointment of the BHC chief justice from among the three senior-most judges of the high court. Those considered for the office included Justice Mullahkhail, Justice Iqbal Ahmed Kasi and Justice Shaukat Ali Rakhshani.
With the establishment of the FCC, where four judges from the SC — Justices Aminuddin Khan, Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Aamer Farooq and Ali Baqar Najafi — have been appointed, as well as the resignation of Justices Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Athar Minallah, the total strength of the SC has reduced to 18 judges from 24.
The JCP meeting was also attended by FCC Chief Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Aamer Farooq, Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, Pakistan Bar Council representative Ahsan Bhoon, Senator Farooq Hamid Naek, Senator Syed Ali Zafar, and MNAs Sheikh Aftab Ahmad and Gohar Ali Khan.
A press release issued later said the JCP constituted a committee comprising Justice Farooq, AGP Awan, Naek, Zafar and Bhoon to make draft rules under clause 20 of Article 175A of the Constitution.
The clause calls for the drafting of rules related to the annual performance evaluation of high court judges and to the period granted to a high court judge to improve their performance if it is found to be inefficient.
After the passage of the 27th Constitutional Amendment, changes were made to key constitutional and statutory judicial bodies.
Following these changes, SC’s Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail was included in the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) and the Practice and Procedure Committee, while the FCC’s Justice Farooq was made a member of the JCP.
Among the three statutory bodies, the SJC is the top forum for judicial accountability that probes allegations of misconduct against judges, the Practice and Procedure Committee forms benches and fixes cases, and the JCP is responsible for appointing judges to the superior judiciary.
The SJC also held a meeting today and constituted a committee comprising Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Rizvi and Justice Aalia Neelum to draft rules for regulating its procedures and conduct of business under clause 10 of Article 209 of the Constitution.
“In the meanwhile, the council unanimously adopted the Supreme Judicial Council Procedure of Inquiry, 2025, provisionally,” a press release issued by the body said.
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