9 judges named for constitutional benches at Sindh High Court

A meeting of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan at the Supreme Court on Monday evening decided to appoint nine judges to the constitutional benches at the Sindh High Court (SHC). 

Supreme Court Chief Justice Yahya Afridi chaired the meeting. According to sources, Justice KK Agha will be the head of the constitutional benches and the constitutional committee. Justice Umar Sial and Justice Muhammad Saleem will be the members of the constitutional committee. Justice Zulfiqar Ali Sangi, Justice Arbab Ali, Justice Yousuf Ali Syed, Justice Khadim Hussain Soomro and Justice Sana Minhas Ikram have been named for the constitutional benches. 

Sources said that appointment of these judges was made with a majority verdict. Eleven votes were cast in favour of these nine judges, recommending their appointment to the constitutional courts. 

Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Muneeb Akhtar and Sindh High Court Chief Justice opposed these appointments to the constitutional courts at the Sindh High Court. 

The Chief Justice of Pakistan did not cast his vote in favour of or against anyone. 

Omar Ayub Khan and Shibli Faraz, two members of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), did not attend the judicial commission meeting due to their political engagements. The meeting participants waited for them at least for two hours and then started the meeting when they found Omar and Shibli’s phones switched off.