No Supreme Court judge in JCP panels for high court judge vetting
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ISLAMABAD: In a significant development signaling a marked departure from the established judicial hierarchy, the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) has formally notified separate interview committees to vet candidates for appointment as additional judges in four high courts, with not a single Supreme Court judge included in any of the panels. The notification, issued on Wednesday and obtained by Dawn, invokes Rule 10A of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (Appointment of Judges) Rules, 2024, and bears the approval of the JCP chairperson — the chief justice of Pakistan. The committees have been tasked with interviewing candidates nominated until July 4, 2026, for the Lahore High Court (LHC), Islamabad High Court (IHC), Sindh High Court (SHC), and Balochistan High Court (BHC). Interestingly, the composition of the four committees, while varying slightly in their judicial members, uniformly draws its judicial strength from either the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) or the respective high courts, conspicuously bypassing the Supreme Court. For the LHC and the IHC, the same seven-member panel has been constituted. FCC Judge Syed Hassan Azhar Rizvi will chair both committees. The other members include LHC Chief Justice Aalia Neelum, IHC Chief Justice Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar, Attorney General for Pakistan Mansoor Usman Awan, Senators Farooq Hamid Naek and Syed Ali Zafar, and Supreme Court Bar Association representative Muhammad Ahsan Bhoon. For the SHC, the chairmanship has been assigned to FCC Judge Aamer Farooq. The panel includes LHC Chief Justice Aalia Neelum, SHC Chief Justice Zafar Ahmed Rajput, along with the attorney general, the two senators, and Bhoon. A similar composition has been notified for the BHC, with Justice Aamer Farooq again serving as chairperson and BHC Chief Justice Muhammad Kamran Khan Malakhail replacing the Sindh chief justice as a member. The remaining members are identical across all panels. The notification comes against the backdrop of