ISLAMABAD:
Three important meetings of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) regarding the appointment of a Supreme Court judge and the appointment of chief justices of two high courts are scheduled for December 2.
These meetings, chaired by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi, will be the first formal meetings of the JCP on appointments to the higher judiciary after the 27th Constitutional Amendment.
According to the agenda of the first meeting, the commission will consider the appointment of the chief justice of the Sindh High Court, for which the names of the three senior-most judges of the court will be taken.
The second meeting will take up the appointment of a permanent president of the Balochistan High Court (BHC), where again the names of the three chief judges of the BHC will be reviewed.
In the third meeting, the commission will discuss the appointment of an Islamabad High Court (IHC) judge to the Supreme Court.
According to the agenda, the names under consideration will be the three most senior judges of the IHC – Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar, Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb.
On November 18, three important judicial forums – the PCJ, the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) and the Practice and Procedure Act (PAPA) committee of the Supreme Court – were reconstituted in view of the 27th Constitutional Amendment.
According to a notification issued by the Supreme Court, two judges of the newly formed Federal Constitutional Court (FCC), Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi, were appointed members of the JCP and the SJC.
The JCP is the constitutional body that elevates judges to the higher courts
The SJC is the forum that hears complaints filed against high court judges for alleged misconduct, while the PAPA committee of the Supreme Court forms tribunals and enumerates cases.
Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail was also appointed to the SJC, but has not been included in the JCP. Justice Mandokhail was a member of the PCJ formed under the 26th Constitutional Amendment.
The notification stated that in accordance with the principles of transparency and institutional continuity, Justice Mandokhail, Senior Justice of the Supreme Court, has been appointed for two years as a member of the PCJ under Article 209(2)(d). The nomination was made jointly by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi and FCC Chief Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan.
The SJC is headed by Chief Justice Yahya Afridi, while other members include Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi and the two senior chief justices.
According to the SC notification, Justice Aamer Farooq, FCC judge, was appointed to the JCP for two years, through a joint decision of CJP Afridi and CJ Khan.
Under the amended Article 175A(2), subclause (3A), a judge, whether of the FCC or the Supreme Court, must be jointly nominated by the CJ of the FCC and the Chief Justice of Pakistan for a term of two years.
The PML-N-led government introduced major changes to the country’s judicial system, first through the 26th Constitutional Amendment passed by parliament in October 2024 and later through the 27th Constitutional Amendment passed amid opposition protests on November 12, 2025.
