Judicial Commission of Pakistan initiates process to fill high court vacancies

ISLAMABAD: Setting a rapid pace for judicial appointments, the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) has formally invited nominations to fill 10 vacant positions of additional judges in the Lahore High Court (LHC). The move comes just a day after the commission approved the Inter­views of Judges Appointment Rules, creating a specialised seven-member panel to vet prospective candidates for the superior judiciary. According to an official communication circulated by the JCP Secretariat, nominations on the prescribed format have been sought for the LHC benches and must reach the commission by July 4. Sources told Dawn that following the compilation of these nominations, the JCP is scheduled to convene intensive sessions from July 21 to 23 to evaluate and finalise selections for the Lahore, Sindh, and Balochistan high courts. Concurrently, candidate recommendations for the Peshawar High Court (PHC) are being finalised and are expected to be placed before the commission during the same period. The swift procedural rollout follows a significant regulatory breakthrough during Friday’s JCP meeting, which was chaired by the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP), Yahya Afridi, in his capacity as the commission’s head. Seven-member interview panel’s recommendations will not be binding on JCP The institutional momentum is tied directly to the recently enacted 27th Constitutional Amendment, which modified Article 175A(4) to empower the JCP to formulate its own rules for assessing, evaluating, and determining the professional fitness of judicial candidates. Prior to these rules, a mounting backlog of cases and rising vacancies had stalled appointments across multiple provincial benches. The structural gridlock was broken on Friday when 20 members of the 35-member commission voted by a majority to adopt the interview protocols, along with key amendments to the Judicial Com­mis­­sion of Pakistan (Appointment of Jud­­ges) Rules, 2024. However, the commission deferred consideration of the