Confirmation of LHC additional judges' tenure postponed, again.

ISLAMABAD -- The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) has again postponed the deliberation on confirming the tenure of 13 additional judges of the Lahore High Court (LHC), this time until August, disclosed a source privy to the development on Wednesday.

The JCP had earlier on April 19 extended the tenure of the additional judges to another six months instead of granting confirmation to the judges. Last time these additional judges were not confirmed, as a number of members of the commission had not gone through the judgments rendered by the additional judges besides the government had also not appointed attorney general for Pakistan then.

Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial presided over the JCP meeting through a video link facility.

Also on June 28, a marathon session of the JCP that met to consider elevation of seven judges into the Sindh High Court (SHC) had postponed further deliberations with an understanding to reconvene after JCP's rules committee comes out with a clear appointment criteria.

An informed source privy to the development told Dawn that the JCP decided to adjourn the deliberations until August after LHC Chief Justice Mohammad Ameer, who is proceeding to perform haj returns home.

The additional judges being considered for confirmation are: Justice Sohail Nasir, Justice Shakil Ahmad, Justice Safdar Saleem Shahid, Justice Ahmad Nadeem Arshad, Justice Mohammad Tariq Nadeem, Justice Mohammad Amjad Rafiq, Justice Abid Hussain Chattha, Justice Anwar Hussain, Justice Ali Zia Bajwa, Justice Sultan Tanvir Ahmad, Justice Mohammad Raza Qureshi, Justice Mohammad Shan Gul and Justice Raheel Kamran Sheikh.

The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) and the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) had previously demanded immediate confirmation of the additional judges of the...