JCP nominates BHC, SHC chief justices
Top forum also nominates Justice Aurangzeb as permanent SC judge
ISLAMABAD: The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) on Tuesday unanimously recommended appointing permanent chief justices to the Sindh High Court (SHC) and Balochistan High Court (BHC).
The forum, in its first meeting after the 27th Constitutional Amendment and the establishment of the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC), nominated SHC Acting Chief Justice Zafar Ahmed Rajput and BHC Acting Chief Justice Muhammad Kamran Khan Mulakhail as permanent chief justices.
A meeting of the JCP was held with Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi in the chair at the Supreme Court to make recommendations for key judicial appointments.
The forum also recommended elevating Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb — an Islamabad High Court judge currently serving as an acting judge of the Supreme Court — as a permanent judge of the SC, with the decision approved by a majority of the JCP’s total membership.
The JCP, by a majority of its total membership, constituted a committee comprising the FCC’s Justice Aamer Farooq, Attorney-General for Pakistan Mansoor Usman Awan, Senator Farooq Hamid Naek, Senator Syed Ali Zafar, and Muhammad Ahsan Bhoon, for making draft rules under clause (20) of Article 175A of the Constitution.
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 on Tuesday 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. Monitoring Desk
