The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP), under the chairmanship of Chief Justice Yahya Afridi, approved on Tuesday the appointments of permanent chief justices for four major high courts, including Peshawar, Balochistan, Sindh and Islamabad.
According to sources, Justice SM Attique Shah has been appointed as the permanent Chief Justice of the Peshawar High Court, reported Express News.
His name was chosen from among three candidates including Justice Ijaz Anwar and Justice Arshad Ali.
For the Balochistan High Court, Justice Rozi Khan was confirmed as the new Chief Justice.
He was selected based on his top seniority ranking, ahead of other two nominees, namely Justice Muhammad Kamran Khan and Justice Iqbal Ahmed Kasi.
Meanwhile, Justice Muhammad Junaid Ghaffar has been appointed as the permanent Chief Justice of the Sindh High Court. His appointment was reportedly unanimous, as he currently ranks highest in the court’s seniority list.
Read: Five IHC judges file intra-court appeal
The commission also deliberated over the Islamabad High Court’s top post, reviewing the names of Justice Sarfraz Dogar, Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb.
Justice Sardar Sarfraz Dogar was confirmed as the new Chief Justice, securing a majority vote with nine JCP members in favour. He also leads the court’s seniority list.
Plea before SC
Meanwhile, Senator Ali Zafar, a member of the JCP affiliated with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), told media outside the Supreme Court that his stance remains firm — only the senior-most judge should be appointed as chief justice.
He noted that an intra-court appeal concerning IHC judges’ seniority is still pending and said the matter should not have been discussed until the appeal is decided.
“If our view is not accepted, we will vote accordingly,” he said, without disclosing how he had cast his vote.
Earlier, five IHC judges had challenged the apex court’s order endorsing the transfer of three judges to the IHC.
They have also requested the apex court to restrain the three transferred judges — including Acting Chief Justice Sarfraz Dogar — from performing any judicial or administrative functions as IHC judges.
The judges, including Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Justice Babar Sattar, Justice Sardar Ijaz Ishaq Khan and Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz, have filed an intra-court appeal against the order through counsels Muneer A Malik and Barrister Salahuddin Ahmed advocate in the apex court.
