Supreme Court reshapes SJC and JCP under 27th Amendment

The Supreme Court announced a reconstitution of three key bodies to reflect changes introduced by the 27th Constitutional Amendment. The update covers the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) and the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Committee.

Under the new composition, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail — the next most senior Supreme Court judge — was jointly nominated by the chief justices of the Supreme Court and the Federal Constitutional Court to the SJC. The SJC now includes the CJP, the FCC chief justice, Justice Munib Akhtar, FCC Justice Syed Hassan Azhar Rizvi, and the chief justices of the Lahore and Islamabad high courts.

Justice Mandokhail was also added to the three-member Practice and Procedure Committee alongside the CJP and Justice Munib Akhtar. For the JCP, Justice Aamer Farooq — the next most senior judge of the Federal Constitutional Court — was jointly nominated under Article 175A by the heads of the SC and the FCC; the commission now includes statutory members such as the attorney general, law minister and bar representatives.

The court said the revamped bodies will oversee appointments, accountability and procedural governance under the amended framework. The changes follow parliament’s passage of the 27th Amendment, after which several senior judges tendered resignations in protest, while the government defended the overhaul as lawful.