President approves elevation of Justice Musarrat Hilali to SC

ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi on Wednesday approved the elevation of Chief Justice (CJ) of Peshawar High Court Justice Musarrat Hilali to the Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan.

According to a statement issued by President House, President Alvi approved the appointment under Article 175 A(13) of the Constitution, which will make her the country’s second-ever woman judge to sit on the apex court.

Meanwhile, the president also approved the appointment of Dr Syed Muhammad Anwar as the Scholar Judge of the Federal Shariat Court.

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.

Earlier, the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) approved the elevation of Peshawar High Court (PHC) Chief Justice (CJ) Justice Musarrat Hilali to the Supreme Court.

Justice Qazi Faez Isa, the senior puisne judge of the Supreme Court, had 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.