President Asif Ali Zardari has approved the appointment of additional judges to the Lahore, Sindh, Peshawar, Islamabad and Balochistan high courts, ending a weeks-long delay in acting on the Judicial Commission of Pakistan’s recommendations.
According to the Presidency, the president also approved the confirmation of several additional judges of the Lahore and Sindh high courts as permanent judges.
The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) had recommended the appointments and confirmations on July 20 and 21. Its recommendations included the confirmation of four additional Peshawar High Court judges, a six-month extension for an additional Sindh High Court judge and the appointment of 19 additional judges to the Lahore, Islamabad, Sindh and Balochistan high courts.
Under Article 175-A of the Constitution, the recommendations were sent to the prime minister, who forwarded the summary to the president. The summary remained pending with the Presidency for several weeks.
The delay had raised concerns within the president’s legal team, which reportedly questioned aspects of the JCP proceedings and raised objections over some nominees, including allegations that certain candidates had criminal records.
The delay also affected the functioning of the superior judiciary. Four additional judges of the Peshawar High Court whose confirmations had been recommended by the JCP ceased to hold office on August 4 after their terms expired without formal notifications. An additional Sindh High Court judge also left office on July 29 after the expiry of his extended tenure.
Amid the impasse, the government considered invoking Article 48(1) to allow the notifications to be issued through the law ministry, arguing that the president was required to act on the summary within 14 days. The matter, however, became subject to legal proceedings.
The Presidency’s legal team maintained that Article 175-A did not specify a timeframe for the president to act on judicial appointment recommendations and could not be overridden by Article 48(1). It also referred to Article 48(2), which provides the president discretion in matters where the Constitution grants such authority.
Meanwhile, the Islamabad High Court had taken up a petition challenging the delay in presidential approval. The court reserved its verdict on the maintainability of the petition filed by advocate Luqman Chaudhary through his counsel Zahid Chaudhry.
President Zardari also approved equalisation of the salaries, allowances and pensions of Supreme Court judges with those of Federal Constitutional Court judges.
He further approved amendments to the 1997 order concerning the leave, pensions and privileges of high court judges.
The president also approved the appointment of Haroon Akhtar as adviser to the prime minister on industries and production.
