The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP), under the leadership of its Chairman and Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Yahya Afridi, has constituted a committee to draft rules governing the procedure and criteria for the appointment of judges.

The committee is tasked with finalizing and submitting the draft rules to the JCP Secretariat by December 15, 2024.

Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail of the Supreme Court will chair the committee, which includes Attorney General Mansoor Usman Awan, Senators Barrister Syed Ali Zafar and Farooq Hamid Naek, and Senior Advocate Supreme Court Akhtar Hussain as members.

The committee will be supported by officials, including Niaz Muhammad Khan, Secretary JCP, and Supreme Court Research Officers Zafar Iqbal and Qaiser Abbas.

During a series of meetings held on December 6, 2024, the JCP emphasized the urgency of establishing rules to standardize its procedures, particularly concerning the evaluation and fitness criteria for judicial appointments. The meetings addressed multiple agendas, including:

• Formation of the Rules Committee.
• Nomination of Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan as a judge for constitutional benches in the Supreme Court.
• Nominations for additional judges in the Peshawar High Court and the High Court of Sindh.
• Approval of Justice Adnan-ul-Karim Memon and Justice Agha Faisal as constitutional bench judges for the Sindh High Court.

The JCP deferred decisions on the appointment of additional judges for the Peshawar High Court and the High Court of Sindh until December 21, 2024. The deadline for submitting nominations for these positions has been extended to December 10, 2024.

In a joint preliminary session, the Commission explored the integration of technology to streamline its decision-making process and reduce the reliance on paper. Chief Justice Yahya Afridi highlighted the importance of leveraging technology to ease the workload of the JCP Secretariat and its members, a move that received unanimous support.

These developments underscore the JCP's commitment to enhancing transparency and efficiency in judicial appointments and administration.