Qazi Faez Isa, Chief Justice of Pakistan, and Sardar Tariq Masood, Senior Puisne Judge, met with the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) and the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) on Wednesday in Islamabad to get their feedback on how to best handle the disposal of cases.
The SC registrar had previously extended an invitation to the PBC and SCBA to meet with CJP Isa and Justice Masood today.
The Supreme Court’s requirements will be made clear to you.
“The meeting will also provide you with an opportunity to make suggestions to improve the disposal rate of accumulated cases, determine the kinds of cases to be prioritised, make the Supreme Court efficient, and make administration of justice transparent,” the letter reads, as seen by The Express Tribune.
It’s unprecedented for a CJP to invite members of the superior bars to a roundtable discussion. The PBC is dominated by the Independent Lawyers Group, whereas the SCBA is dominated by the Professional Lawyers Group.
Meanwhile, PBC’s JCP representative Akhtar Hussain has requested that the new CJP inform the committee headed by Senior Puisne Judge Sardar Tariq Masood that is tasked with developing criteria for the nomination of judges to the superior courts.
The JCP, which is mandated by the constitution to promote and elevate superior court judges, is headed by the CJP. Former Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed appointed his successor, Umar Ata Bandial, to head a five-person committee before he stepped down.
In addition to Justice (ret.) Akhtar Hussain and the PBC member, Justice (ret.) Maqbool Baqar and Justice (ret.) Sarmad Jalal Osmani served on the committee.
It’s interesting that after only one meeting, the committee resolved to keep working on developing objective criteria for promoting judges.
When Justice Bandial was elevated to Chief Justice, he failed to inform Justice Isa, who was then serving as committee chair.
However, he summarised the first meeting’s findings and distributed it to all JCP participants.
The report found that all committee members had agreed on four qualities—competence, honesty, capacity, and temperament—while reviewing the criteria for the nomination of judges. The Supreme Court (SC) currently has two open seats.
CJP Isa is tasked with modernising the standards by making adjustments to the JCP guidelines. At least one judge will come from the Sindh High Court, while the other could come from either the Lahore or Balochistan courts.
