Judicial Commission Of Pakistan Recommends Elevation Of Justice Ayesha Malik As First Female Judge Of Supreme Court

The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) on Thursday approved the proposal to elevate Justice Ayesha Malik (presently a Lahore High Court Judge) to the Supreme Court of Pakistan, reported Pakistan Daily Dawn.

If the Parliamentary Committee on Judges, which has the final say regarding appointments made to the Supreme Court, approves this proposal, then Justice Malik would go on to become the first female Supreme Court judge in the nation's history.

On Thursday, the JCP Met wherein the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Gulzar Ahmed, senior puisne judge Justice Umar Ata Bandial, former judge Sarmad Jalal Osmany, Law Minister Barrister Farogh Naseem and Attorney General (AG) Khalid Jawed Khan supported the elevation of Justice Malik to the Supreme Court, however, Justice Qazi Faez Isa, Justice Maqbool Baqar, Justice Sardar Tariq Masood and Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) representative Akhtar Hussain, on the other hand, opposed her elevation.

It may be noted that her nomination has been opposed by the Bar Associations of Pakistan and even some judges, in the forum and outside, claiming that her elevation would be in contravention of seniority lists without any set selection criteria.

Specifically, the Pakistan Bar Council and the Supreme Court Bar Association had opposed her elevation to the SC contending that she is currently at No 4 on the seniority list in the Lahore High Court and despite this, her name is being considered for elevation.

A section of lawyers had even threatened to boycott all court proceedings if the meeting for the nomination was not postponed or recalled, however, despite the strike call issued by the PBC, the protest by lawyers was quite muted.

As reported by Dawn, at the outset of the meeting of the JCP on Thursday, Justice Isa said that the commission should first determine the appointment criteria for the nomination of judges to the top court, rather than considering Justice Malik's elevation, however, with divided votes (5-4), the Commission approved her nomination as Supreme Court Judge.

Significantly, if she is ultimately elevated to the SC, she would remain an SC judge until March 2031, and can even go on to become the first woman to be the Chief Justice of Pakistan.