President Zardari approves appointments of additional high court judges, ending weeks-long impasse
President approves appointment of 10 additional judges to LHC, three to SHC, three to IHC, three to BHC
President Asif Ali Zardari signed the necessary paperwork on Tuesday to appoint additional judges to five high courts, ending a prolonged impasse that had included legal proceedings in the Islamabad High Court. The appointments were made to the Lahore, Sindh, Islamabad, and Balochistan High Courts, as well as the Lahore and Peshawar High Courts.
Ten new judges will join the Lahore High Court, while the Sindh, Islamabad, and Balochistan High Courts each have three new judges joining. The President's Office confirmed that Zardari had signed all the relevant summaries. This development occurred a day after the Islamabad High Court requested written reports from the federal government and Ministry of Law regarding the pending judges' appointment summaries.
The impasse began after the Judicial Commission of Pakistan presented recommendations for appointments, with the president neither approving the recommendations nor returning the summary with objections. This prompted questions about whether the Constitution allowed an indefinite delay in acting on judicial appointments. The situation became contentious due to the growing debate over the president's role in judicial appointments.
The Supreme Court had previously ruled that the president could not reject nominations made by the Judicial Commission, but Article 175A(8) did not specify a timeframe for acting on recommendations.
Written by urgent.news from The Express Tribune - Pakistan's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
