In what appears to be the first such exercise since its establishment, the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) has begun conducting interviews of candidates nominated for appointment as judges of the superior courts.

A seven-member JCP committee, headed by Justice Syed Hassan Azhar Rizvi, on Monday interviewed 27 candidates for appointment as additional judges of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) and the Balochistan High Court (BHC).

The commission had invited nominations to fill three vacancies in the IHC and five in the BHC.

A total of 20 nominees were proposed for the BHC and seven for the IHC by members of the Judicial Commission.

The seven-member committee interviewed all candidates and finalised its recommendations for each nominee.

The committee spent approximately 15 to 20 minutes interviewing each candidate. Each committee member shared their assessment of every candidate before a final decision was reached by majority vote.

It is learnt that there is an understanding among JCP members that candidates below the age of 45 are unlikely to be approved for appointment as judges. However, there is no constitutional bar preventing a lawyer under the age of 45 from being appointed as a high court judge.

One of the candidates told The Express Tribune that the committee asked questions about reported judgments attached to his performance.

Two nominees said the committee asked them why they wanted to become judges of the superior courts.

Sources told The Express Tribune that the committee concluded some candidates did not meet the required standard for judicial appointment.

However, a majority of the nominees put forward by the two chief justices were found suitable for appointment.

One senior lawyer said there was a need to evaluate the independence, integrity and courage of candidates, adding that the prevailing circumstances demanded that judicial nominees should be sensitive to issues relating to civil liberties.

“If judges are to be appointed to constitutional courts in Pakistan, they must be fearlessly independent and competent. To achieve that, you have to headhunt and persuade them to join the judiciary,” he said.

Before the passage of the 26th Constitutional Amendment, the parliamentary committee on judicial appointments used to conduct interviews of nominees for the superior courts.

This is the first time representatives of all stakeholders – the judiciary, the executive and the legislature – have sat together to interview candidates for judicial appointments.

The committee is scheduled to interview candidates nominated for judgeships in the Sindh High Court today (Tuesday).