ISLAMABAD - The Parliamentary Committee on the Appointment of Judges in the superior judiciary Thursday decided to interview two nominees of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed for the appointment of judges of the Islamabad High Court (IHC).
The parliamentary committee that met under the chair of PML-N Senator Muhammad Javed Abbasi decided that Babar Sattar and Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, whose names were earlier recommended by the JCP for appointment of judges of the IHC, would be called for an interview.
According to a statement issued by the Senate Secretariat, the meeting after deliberations and detailed discussions decided to call the nominees for interview as per rules of the parliamentary committee and adjourned the meeting for December 21.
The Senators including Farooq H Naek of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Sarfaraz Ahmed Bughti of Balochistan Awami Party, federal minister Muhammad Azam Khan Swati of ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and members of the National Assembly including Rana Sana Ullah Khan of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Raja Pervaiz Ashraf of PPP, and Ali Muhammad Khan of PTI attended the meeting besides Secretary Senate Mohammad Qasim Samad Khan.
On December 3, the JCP headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed had recommended Babar Sattar and Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri for the appointment of judges of IHC.
Though the parliamentary committee can endorse or reject the recommendations of the JCP yet the forum virtually had become a rubber stamp after the 19th Constitution Amendment and an order of the Supreme Court. The JCP has a final say in the appointment of judges of the superior judiciary.
The committee has been without a head for several months as its previous successive heads had resigned objecting that the committee has become toothless. In the absence of a regular chairman, its convener-ship rotates among the members and Senator Abbasi convened Thursday’s meeting due to the same reason.