Parliamentary Committee Formed for Appointment of New Chief Justice

12-member parliamentary committee has been formed for the appointment of the new Chief Justice of Pakistan, with an official notification issued. The committee’s first meeting is scheduled for tomorrow at 2 PM, where the Terms of Reference (TORs) will be decided. The committee will request a panel of three senior judges from the Ministry of Law, from which it will select the next Chief Justice.

Committee Composition

The committee comprises members from various political parties, including:
– Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N): 4 members
– Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP): 3 members
– Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC): 3 members
– Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI): 1 member
– Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F): 1 member
– Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM): 1 member

Party Representatives

PML-N
The following members have been nominated:
– Khawaja Asif
– Ahsan Iqbal
– Shaista Pervaiz Malik
– Senator Azam Nazir Tarar

PPP
The nominated members are:
– Former Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf
– Farooq H. Naek
– Syed Naveed Qamar

Farooq H. Naek will represent the Senate, while Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and Naveed Qamar will represent the National Assembly.

Sunni Ittehad Council**
The members nominated by SIC are:
– Barrister Gohar**
– Sahibzada Hamid Raza

JUI Senator Kamran Murtaza has been nominated, with JUI-F’s parliamentary leader in the Senate, **Maulana Atta-ur-Rehman**, forwarding his name to the Senate Secretariat.

PTI has nominated Senator Ali Zafar for the parliamentary committee.

MQM has nominated Rana Ansar, a female member, as their representative on the committee.

Committee’s Role

The 12-member special parliamentary committee will select the Chief Justice of Pakistan from the panel of three senior judges. The current Chief Justice will send the panel to the National Assembly Speaker three days before retirement, and the Speaker will forward it to the committee for the selection process.

Representation Formula

A proportional representation formula was devised, allocating one seat to a political party in the special committee for every 39 National Assembly members, while in the Senate, a seat is allocated for every 21 members. Based on this formula:
– PML-N secured 4 seats (3 from the National Assembly, 1 from the Senate)
– PPP received 3 seats (2 from the National Assembly, 1 from the Senate)
– PTI and SIC also received seats (SIC from the National Assembly, PTI from the Senate)
– MQM and JUI-F secured one seat each, with MQM from the National Assembly and JUI-F from the Senate, the latter being from a special government quota.

The special parliamentary committee has been constituted under Article 175A, Clause 3A, Sub-Clause 1 and 2 of the Constitution.