ISLAMABAD: The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) is expected to meet next week to consider an extension in the term of the constitutional benches of the Supreme Court.
The meeting on June 19 will be chaired by Chief Justice Yahya Afridi.
Under the 26th Amendment, a seven-judge constitutional bench was formed on November 5, 2024, for a period of 60 days.
It inlcuded justices Aminuddin Khan, Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Mohammad Ali Mazhar, Ayesha A. Malik, Hassan Azhar Rizvi, Musarrat Hilali, Naeem Akhtar Afghan and Shahid Bilal Hassan.
In December, the bench’s tenure was extended for six months.
In February, the constitutional bench was expanded to 13 members with the inclusion of justices Hashim Khan Kakar, Salahuddin Panhwar, Shakeel Ahmad, Aamer Farooq and Ishtiaq Ibrahim.
Earlier, CJP Afridi had also constituted committees for setting a criteria for the appointment of judges to all high courts and constitutional benches of superior courts.
Rules for judges’ evaluation
The commission’s meeting next week will also discuss new rules for evaluating the performance of high court judges.
The rules would be framed under sub-section 20 of Article 175A of the Constitution.
The Constitution empowers the JCP to review the performance of high court judges annually.
Under Article 175A, any judge whose performance was found to be subpar would be given a specified period for improvement.
If, upon completion of the time period, the judge’s performance is again found to be unsatisfactory, the JCP would submit a report to the Supreme Judicial Council.
Published in Dawn, June 12th, 2025
