JCP turns down Chief Justice Bandial's nominated judges for SC elevation

Islamabad: The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) Thursday turned down the names of higher courts' judges nominated by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial for their appointment to the Supreme Court, sources claimed.

Bandial presided over the judicial commission's session, where a total of five judges, two from the Sindh High Court and three from the Lahore High Court (LHC), were considered.

According to sources, the chief justice, Justice Aijazul Ahsan, and Justice Sajjad Ali Shah voted in favour of the nominees, while Justice (retd) Sarmad Jalal Usmani voted in favour of three judges from LHC and voted against the SHC nominees, sources said.

However, according to sources, their votes were less as Justice Qazi Faez Isa, Justice Tariq Masood, Attorney-General Ashtar Ausaf Ali, and Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar voted against all the five nominees. 

Upon receiving five votes against the nominees, the chief justice ended the session without reaching a decision, sources added.

Had they been approved, then in line with Article 175-A of the Constitution of Pakistan, the JCP would have forwarded the list to the parliamentary committees for the appointment of judges to the Supreme Court.

According to media reports, voting was conducted among the members of the Judicial Commission after disagreement among the members on five judges nominated by the Chief Justice.

It was reported that the meeting was adjourned when there were five votes against four as Justice Qazi Faiz Isa, Justice Tariq Masood, Attorney General and Minister of Law voted against.

Regarding two judges of Sindh, Justice Retired Sarmad Jalal Usmani also voted against, Justice Retired Sarmad Jalal Usmani opposed 2 nominations and voted in favor of 3.

Additionally, Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Umar Atta Bandyal, Justice Sajjad Ali Shah and Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan voted in favor of the nominations.