Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi on Thursday chaired two consecutive meetings of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP), during which the top judicial body approved the extension of the Supreme Court’s constitutional bench tenure until November 30.
The meetings were held at the Supreme Court building in Islamabad, according to a statement issued by the apex court.
The JCP held two separate meetings to consider matters related to the constitutional benches of the Supreme Court, Sindh High Court (SHC), and judicial performance evaluations, the statement read.
In the first meeting, the JCP approved the extension of the Supreme Court’s constitutional bench until November 30, 2025. The commission also deliberated on a policy decision under Article 175A(20) of the Constitution concerning the annual performance evaluation of high court judges.
“As part of this initiative, the JCP chairperson constituted a broad-based committee comprising representatives from the judiciary, parliament, executive, and the legal community to draft rules for judicial performance evaluations,” it added.
In the second meeting, the top judicial body, by majority, extended the term of the constitutional benches of the Sindh High Court (SHC) for six months, effective July 23, 2025.
As part of the changes, two new judges — Justice Adnan Iqbal Chaudhry and Justice Jaffar Raza — were appointed to replace Justice Agha Faisal and Justice Sana Akram Minhas.
In a separate development, the Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed pleas filed against the transfer of judges from three high courts to the Islamabad High Court and termed them as being constitutional while ruling that Justice Sarfraz Dogar can continue to work as IHC’s acting chief justice.
The verdict was announced by Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, who was heading the five-member constitutional bench hearing petitions filed by five IHC judges, the Karachi Bar Association (KBA), the IHC Bar Association, and others against the transfer of Justice Sarfraz Dogar from the Lahore High Court, Justice Khadim Hussain Soomro from the Sindh High Court, and Justice Muhammad Asif from the Balochistan High Court. The three judges were among those transferred to the IHC.
The bench also comprises Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan, Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan, Justice Salahuddin Panhwar and Justice Shakeel Ahmed.
