The Judicial Commission for appointment of superior courts’ judges is likely to meet next week to consider appointments of three judges on vacant posts in the Supreme Court (SC).
The sanctioned strength of the SC judges is 17 including the chief justice of Pakistan. However, only 14 judges including an adhoc judge, are currently performing their functions in the SC. Sources told Pakistan Today that the Judicial Commission is expected to nominate chief justices of Lahore, Sindh and Peshawar high courts, being senior most judges, as judges of the Supreme Court.
After the retirement of Justice Javed Iqbal on July 31 this year, 14 judges including an adhoc judge are performing their functions. These judges include Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, Justice Tassadduq Hussain Jillani, Justice Nasirul Mulk, Justice Muhammad Sair Ali, Justice Mahmood Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui, Justice Jawwad S Khawaja, Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain, Justice Tariq Parvez Khan, Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany, Justice Amir Hani Muslim, Justice Ghulam Rabbani (Adhoc judge).
Besides, Justice Dr Fida Muhammad Khan and Justice Dr Muhammad Al-Ghazali are the members of Adhoc Shariah Appellate Bench. According to senior lawyers, the shortage of judges in the SC as well other courts would badly affect the judiciary’s resolve to dispense justice at the grassroots level by clearing the backlog of pending cases. The sanctioned strength of the SC was raised to 29 by the previous government through a finance bill on June 23, 2007, but was later reduced to its original strength of 17 by the Supreme Court in a landmark judgment on July 31, 2009.