Judicial Commission of Pakistan

The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (informally JCP) is a commission for the appointment of Supreme Court and High Court Judges in Pakistan.[1] The Chief Justice of Pakistan is the Chairman of JCP.

On 20 April 2010, 18th Constitutional Amendment was passed in the Parliament of Pakistan, which was later amended by 19th Constitutional Amendment.[2] In pursuance of the Amendments, a Judicial Commission was proposed to be created to recommend the appointment of Judges of the Superior Courts in Pakistan. Through 18th Amendment in 2010, Pakistan got two forums for appointment of judges to the superior judiciary: a Judicial Commission with representation from the judiciary, lawyers and the federal government, responsible for recommending names of perspective judges; and a parliamentary committee [PC] to approve or reject these names but with assigning reasons if some name is rejected.

This mechanism had in fact curtailed the powers of the President and the political executive, which was also objectionable in deed, but the propaganda in the media was made that "CJP's powers have been cur-tailed" in the name of 'meaningful consultation' [the phrase devised and more emphasized by the CJP Sajjad Ali Shah, in fact]

The 18th amendment also provided (vide Para 3 of Article 175A) that the president shall appoint the senior most judge of the Supreme Court to the office of the CJP thus formally recognising the principle of seniority and legitimate expectancy enunciated by the apex court in the Al-Jihad case and subsequently reiterated in some other cases.[3]