Federal Minister for Law and Justice Azam Nazeer Tarar has resigned for ‘personal reasons’, it emerged Monday night. He had been under severe criticism after the judicial council meeting where junior judges were elevated to the Supreme Court.

وزیر قانون مستعفی ۔۔۔۔ pic.twitter.com/nVYVidUQqt

— Asma Shirazi (@asmashirazi) October 24, 2022

The Judicial Commission of Pakistan has approved the names of three judges for the five vacant slots of the Supreme Court, while deferring the decision on the appointment of Justice Shafi Siddiqui due to lack of consensus.

Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial presided over the meeting of the commissionm, which is a constitutional forum for recommending individuals to be appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court. It comprises nine members including the chief justice of Pakistan, the four most senior judges of the Supreme Court, the federal law minister, the attorney general of Pakistan, a retired judge of the Supreme Court and a nominee of the Pakistan Bar Council.

During the meeting, the names of the three judges judges were approved by a majority vote of five to four.

It recommended bringing Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Athar Minullah to the Supreme Court, and appointing Lahore High Court’s Justice Shahid Waheed and Sindh High Court’s Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi.

The CJP had nominated four high court judges despite the fact that there were five vacant seats of the apex court. No judge has been appointed to the Supreme Court since February this year. Justice Bandial had summoned a meeting of the JCP on July 28 to consider his five nominees, but a consensus could not evolved among the body’s members.

According to the new seniority list of the Supreme Court, Justice Athar Minullah will be 13th, Justice Hasan Rizvi 14th and Shahid Waheed 15th.

It warrants mention that Justice Shahid Waheed is the fourth senior-most judge of the LHC. Meanwhile, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi is fourth and Justice Shafi Siddiqui is sixth on the SHC judges’ seniority list. This means that three senior judges have been overlooked for elevation to the top court.

The commission has sent the recommendations to the parliamentary committee for approval.

Sindh Bar Council’s objection

A resolution passed by the Sindh Bar Council (SBC) and signed by 15 different bar leaders expressed dismay at the nomination of only two Sindh High Court judges for appointment to the Supreme Court.

Of those, only one name has been approved while objections have been raised on the nomination of SHC’s Justice Shafi Siddiqui.

Three vacancies on the Supreme Court were created after the retirement of Sindh judges former Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed, Justice Maqbool Baqir and Justice Sajjad Ali Shah.

The resolution expressed regret that with this move, the number of judges from Punjab will increase to eight in place of judges from Sindh.

Justice Qazi Faez Isa had also objected to Justice Shahid Waheed to the Supreme Court. He said that Justice Shahid’s name had been rejected in the previous meeting of the Judicial Commission.