The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) determined on Friday that all judges of the Sindh High Court (SHC) will serve on constitutional benches until November 24.
Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi led a meeting to deliberate on the proposal to establish a constitutional bench within the SHC, put forward by SHC Chief Justice Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui. The commission unanimously supported the proposal, assigning all current SHC judges to these duties.
The meeting, held at the Supreme Court, included Justices Mansoor Ali Shah, Munib Akhtar, Aminuddin Khan, and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, the latter of whom joined briefly via video link.
Also present were SHC CJ Shafi Siddiqui, Federal Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, Attorney General Mansoor Usman Awan, Senators Farooq H. Naek and Shibli Faraz, National Assembly members Sheikh Aftab Ahmed, Omar Ayub Khan, and Roshan Khursheed Bharucha, along with representatives from the Sindh Bar Council and Pakistan Bar Council.
Akhtar Hussain, a representative of the Judicial Commission, could not attend due to his wife’s health issues.
Read: JCP Establishes Constitutional Bench Following 26th Amendment
Law Minister Tarar, speaking to the media after the meeting, announced that discussions would resume on November 25. He confirmed that judges currently have the authority to handle constitutional cases. He also pointed out that the SHC oversees civil cases, despite having 12 judge positions vacant, some for years, leading to growing case backlogs.
The meeting also addressed these vacancies, yet did not finalize any appointments. Tarar explained that the Judicial Commission does not control the allocation of benches or case assignments, which an administrative committee of three senior judges manages.
In response to a question about the discussion of terrorism, Tarar humorously noted that it was simply a casual conversation and not a serious issue.
Sources reveal that the discussions considered potential nominees for the SHC’s constitutional benches. The provincial government still needs to make decisions regarding similar benches for the Lahore High Court (LHC). Notably, the Supreme Court has already finalized appointments for constitutional benches across high courts, ensuring that all legal or constitutional appeals will go to these designated benches.
