Islamabad: The five-member committee of the Pakistan Judicial Committee (JCP), led by Jamal Khan Mandokhail, will meet again on September 26 to restore the unfinished agenda Meeting August 22.
Agenda relate to the framework rule To evaluate the judicial performance of all High Court judges and to recommend elevating judges to the standards of higher judiciary.
Although the rules have not been composed yet, 26th Constitutional Amendment Article 175A of the Constitution was amended, emphasizing that if a lack of a High Court judgment or an inefficient judgment was found, the JCP would grant a judge a certain period of improvement, which is an appropriate remedy.
If the judge’s performance remains inefficient after the completion of this period, the committee sends its report to the Supreme Judicial Committee (SJC) and recommends dismissal.
The amendment also requires the committee to conduct annual performance evaluations of High Court judges. It further authorized the Commission to develop separate rules to establish effective evaluation criteria.
Similarly, Article 177 of the 26th Amendment Amendment currently stipulates that no one can serve as a judge of the Supreme Court and have served at least five judges in the High Court unless he is a Pakistani citizen. For no less than 15 years, he is also an advocate of the Supreme Court.
On June 19, the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi formed an extensive High Court Judicial Performance Evaluation Committee. The institution includes members of the Judicial, Parliament, Executive and Legal Brotherhood. Its mission is to prepare draft rules for annual judicial performance evaluation and development standards to select judges in the superior course.
At the last meeting, the Commission delayed the agenda for the framework rules for regulating judicial performance evaluation, although the Constitution provides for Article 175A(4) to give it the power to formulate such rules. Now, this matter will be resolved again in the near future.
Posted in Dawn on September 23, 2025
