JCP approves Justice Musarrat Hilali’s elevation to Supreme Court

ISLAMABAD: The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) on Wednesday approved the elevation of Peshawar High Court (PHC) Chief Justice (CJ) Justice Musarrat Hilali to the Supreme Court, which will make her the country’s second-ever woman judge to sit on the apex court, ARY News reported.

Sources told ARY News that Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial chaired the JCP meeting during which Justice Malik’s elevation was approved “unanimously”.

Hilali’s name will now be sent to the Parliamentary Committee on Judges Appointment for approval. Her name was initially suggested for elevation by Justice Qazi Faez Isa. It was subsequently agreed to be officially nominated by CJP Bandial.

Justice Musarrat Hilali is the first woman from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) to be appointed as the apex court judge and the second woman in the country’s history to be elevated to the Supreme Court.

The JCP is a constitutional body that decides appointments to the apex court, high courts, and the Federal Shariat Court.

The commission is headed by the CJP, the next senior-most four judges, a former chief justice or SC judge, the law minister, the attorney general, and a senior SC advocate nominated by the Pakistan Bar Council.

Last month, Justice Qazi Faez Isa, the senior puisne judge of the Supreme Court, asked for an immediate meeting of JCP and suggested the names of chief justices of Sindh and Peshawar high courts to fill two vacancies of SC judges.

In a letter sent to all commission members, Justice Isa suggested that the vacancies should be filled immediately, and the names of the judges to be nominated should be recommended before time while considering the principle of seniority.

The JCP last time met in October 2022 when three judges were elevated to the apex court that too after a deadlock over ignoring seniority principle in picking the names of judges for their elevation to the apex court.