ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi on Wednesday approved the appointment of three judges in the Supreme Court of Pakistan including Chief Justice of Islamabad High Court Justice Athar Minallah.
The president also approved the appointment of Sindh High Court judge Justice Syed Hassan Azhar Rizvi and Justice Shahid Waheed of Lahore High Court as the judges of the apex court, a President House press release said.
President Alvi also approved the appointment of Justice Amir Farooq as Chief Justice of Islamabad High Court, who would replace Justice Athar Minallah.
The president made the aforesaid appointments under Article 175 of the Constitution.
On Monday, the Parliamentary Committee on the Appointment of Judges had approaved the elevation of Justice Waheed and Justice Rizvi to the Supreme Court.
The eight-member panel, headed by Senator Farooq H. Naek, had examined the Judicial Commission of Pakistan’s (JCP) recommendations for elevating the two judges.
The committee had on November 4 approved the JCP’s recommendations for the promotion of Justice Minallah to the SC and Justice Farooq as the IHC chief justice, respectively. However, it had deferred the consideration of the names of Justice Waheed and Justice Rizvi for its meeting slated for Nov 10.
Earlier on Nov 2, the committee had decided to consider the names on Nov 10. However, it gave the nod for the elevation of Justice Minallah on Nov 4 at an unscheduled meeting and cleared Justice Waheed and Justice Rizvi on Monday at yet another unscheduled meeting.
On Oct 24, the JCP after a prolonged meeting of three-and-a-half hours had unanimously approved the promotion of Justice Minallah. It gave a divided nod to Justice Waheed and Justice Rizvi — both fourth on the seniority list of their respective courts — with a majority of five to four votes, but dropped outright the suggestion about the SHC’s Justice Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui.
