Daily Times

In a major development, the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) on Monday named nine judges for the constitutional benches in the Sindh High Court (SHC) by a majority of eleven to four.

The third meeting of the JCP under the 26th Constitutional Amendment was held with Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi in the chair at the top court in Islamabad.

The sole agenda of the meeting was formation of constitutional benches with the SHC.

“Following an extensive and thoughtful exchange of views, the commission considered the formation of constitutional benches in SHC and approved names of 9 judges with a majority of 11 to 4 for the period of two months,” read a statement issued by the Supreme Court.

SHC Justice Muhammad Karim Khan Agha was nominated as head of the constitutional benches.

He was picked as the chairman of the thee-member constitutional committee. The committee would be responsible for constituting constitutional benches in the SHC.

SC senior puisne judge Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Munib Akhtar and SHC Chief Justice Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui opposed the majority decision. CJP Afridi, however, did not vote on the matter.

Justice Muhammad Saleem Jessar, Justice Omar Sial, Justice Yousuf Ali Sayeed, Justice Abdul Mobeen Lakho, Justice Zulfiqar Ali Sangi, Justice Ms. Sana Akram Minhas, Justice Khadim Hussain Soomro, Justice Arbab Ali Hakro and Justice KK Agha were picked for the constitutional committees, read the statement.