Under new formula, Parliamentary Special Committee considered three most senior judges for the top judge slot.  Supreme Court Registrar sent names of Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Yahya Afridi for nomination as CJP.  Law minister says name of Justice Afridi sent to PM with two-third majority.  PTI boycotted proceedings of the special committee.

ISLAMABAD  -  The Parliamentary Special Committee tasked with nominating a judge for his appointment as the new Chief Justice of Pakistan on Tuesday picked Justice Yahya Afridi as the 30th Chief Justice of the country.

“The parliamentary committee has nominated Justice Afridi as the new Chief Justice,” Federal Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar told reporters after the committee meeting. “The name of (Justice) Yahya Afridi, with two-third majority, has been sent to the prime minister,” he added.

The parliamentary committee postponed its meeting as some main members from the PTI and the Sunni Ittehad Council were not present. But later the meeting was reconvened. The Supreme Court Registrar had earlier submitted three names for consideration by the committee including three most senior judges Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, followed by Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Yahya Afridi. The nominees represented the three most senior justices of the Supreme Court and one of them would have been selected to succeed the incumbent Chief Justice, Qazi Faez Isa.

In the submission a brief one-page report providing a summary of the judges’ backgrounds, dates of birth, educational qualifications, legal careers, etc were mentioned. The Secretary of Law and Justice, in the meeting, presented the profiles and qualifications of the nominated judges. The members of the special parliamentary committee, along with NA Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, later met with Barrister Gohar in an effort to secure PTI’s participation.

Once the committee reaches a decision, the selected judge’s name will be forwarded to the Prime Minister, who will then send it to the President for formal appointment. CJP Qazi Faez Isa is set to retire as the top judge on October 25. Senior puisne judge Justice Mansoor Ali Shah was previously set to be the next CJP under the seniority principle. However, the constitutional package brought changes to the process of appointing the CJP.

Under amendments to clause 3 of Article 175A, instead of the president appointing the “most senior judge of the Supreme Court” as the CJP, the top judge will now be “appointed on the recommendation of the Special Parliamentary Committee from amongst the three most senior” SC judges.

The special committee was formed other day (Monday) by National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, comprises eight MNAs and four senators nominated by their respective parliamentary leaders. The committee comprises PML-N’s Khawaja Asif, Ahsan Iqbal, Shaista Pervaiz Malik and Senator Azam Nazeer Tarar; PPP’s Raja Pervez Ashraf, Naveed Qamar and Senator Farooq H. Naek; Sunni Ittehad Council’s Hamid Raza; PTI-affiliated MNA Gohar Khan and Senator Ali Zafar; Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan MNA Rana Ansar; and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl’s Senator Kamran Murtaza. But PTI-SIC members boycotted the Tuesday’s proceedings of the special committee.

SIC refuses to participate in CJ nomination committee meeting

The Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) on Tuesday announced to boycott the sessions of the special parliamentary committee formed to nominate the new Chief Justice of Pakistan for a three-year term.

SIC members of the special parliamentary committee informed National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq of their boycott decision during a meeting at the Parliament House.

The speaker and committee members invited the Sunni Ittehad Council to participate in the meetings; however, Barrister Gohar Ali Khan announced that his party’s political committee has chosen to boycott the committee meetings.