In a majority judgement of 11 to four, the Judicial Commission of Pakistan on Monday finalised a nine-member constitutional bench in the Sindh High Court.
The bench was created during a meeting of the Judicial Commission under the recently-passed 26th Constitutional Amendment This was the third meeting of the commission since the amendment was passed in October.
Held at the Supreme Court in Islamabad on Monday, the meeting was chaired by its chairman, the Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi. Others who attended the meeting included Supreme Court's judges, including Justices Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Munib Akhtar (via video link), Aminud Din Khan (head of the constitutional bench in the Supreme Court) and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Sindh High Court (SHC) Chief Justice Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui, SHC Senior Puisne Judge Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto, Federal Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, Attorney-General for Pakistan Mansoor Usman Awan, Senator Farooq Hamid Naek, MNA Sheikh Aftab Ahmad, Roshan Khurshid Barucha, Sindh Law Minister Ziaul Hassan Lanjar, Supreme Court Senior Advocate Akhtar Hussain and Sindh Bar Council Member Qurban Ali Malano.
The meeting had been convened to consider a single agenda, the constitution of the constitutional bench in the Sindh High Court.
Per the official release of the meeting, an extensive and thoughtful exchange ensued over the composition of the bench.
The commission considered the names proposed for the formation of the bench in the high court. Ultimately, it approved the names of nine judges through a majority decision of 11 to four. CJP Yahya Afridi, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Munib Akhtar and SHC CJ Shafi were the four commission members who dissented.
The commission appointed the bench for a period of two months and would include the following: Justice Muhammad Karim Khan Agha (Head of Constitutional Benches), Justice Salim Jessar, Justice Omar Sial, Justice Yousaf Ali Sayeed, Justice Abdul Mobeen Lakho, Justice Zulfiqar Ali Sangi, Justice Sana Akram Minhas, Justice Khadim Hussain Soomro, and Justice Arbab Ali Hakro.
It is pertinent to mention here that in an earlier meeting of the commission when the composition of the constitutional bench in the Sindh High Court was discussed, it had been suggested that all judges of the court should be nominated for the bench.