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 regarding appointments to the Supreme 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 up.
The second meeting will deal with the appointment of a permanent chief justice of the Balochistan High Court (BHC), where again the names of the three chief justices of the BHC will be reviewed.
In the third meeting, the commission will discuss the appointment of a judge from the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to the Supreme Court.
According to the agenda, the names under consideration will be the IHC’s three senior most judges: Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar, Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb.
On 18 November, three key judicial forums – the JCP, the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) and the Practice and Procedure Act (PAPA) Committee of the Supreme Court – were reconstituted in light 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 nominated as members of the JCP and SJC.
The JCP is the constitutional body that elevates judges to the superior courts
The SJC is the forum that hears complaints filed against superior court judges in light of alleged misconduct, while the PAPA Committee of the Supreme Court forms benches and lists cases.
Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail was also appointed as a member of the SJC, but he has not been included in the JCP. Justice Mandokhail was a member of the JCP formed under the 26th constitutional amendment.
The announcement stated that in accordance with the principles of transparency and institutional continuity, Justice Mandokhail, who is a senior judge of the Supreme Court, has been nominated for two years as a member of the JCP under Article 209(2). 2, letter 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-most judges of the High Courts.
According to the SC notification, Justice Aamer Farooq – a judge of the FCC – was nominated as a member of the JCP for two years through a joint resolution of CJP Afridi and CJ Khan.
Under the amended Article 175A(2), sub-clause (3A), a Judge – either of the FCC or the Supreme Court – shall 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 brought major changes to the country’s judicial system first through the 26th Constitutional Amendment brought through Parliament in October 2024 and later by the 27th Constitutional Amendment passed in protest against the opposition on 12 November 2025.
