The Judicial Commission, the constitutional body responsible for appointing judges to superior courts, has rejected the appointment of judges to five vacant positions in the Supreme Court.

A consultation was held on five names in a meeting chaired by Chief Justice Umar Atta Bandial.

Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Attorney General Ashtar Osaf are abroad. Justice Qazi Faez Isa has already expressed reservations over the appointments in a letter to the Chief Justice.

There are supposed to be seventeen judges in the Supreme Court. Currently, it has 13 judges and Justice Sajjad Ali Shah is retiring on August 13. This means that four plus one judge need to be appointed to the top court.

• Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial
• Justice Qazi Faez Isa
• Justice Sardar Tariq Masood
• Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan
• Justice Sajjad Ali Shah (retiring)
• Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah
• Justice Munib Akhtar
• Justice Yahya Afridi
• Justice Amin-Ud-Din Khan
• Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi
• Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail
• Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar
• Justice Ayesha A. Malik

The names considered for the vacant seats are: Peshawar Chief Justice Qaiser Rasheed, Lahore High Court’s Justice Shahid Waheed, Sindh High Court’s three judges: Justice Izhar Rizvi, Justice Shafi Siddique and Justice Naimatullah.