Judicial Commission of Pakistan

The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (abbr. JCP) is a national commission for appointment of the superior judiciary, consisting of the Supreme Court, the Federal Shariat Court and the High Courts, of Pakistan. The Chief Justice of Pakistan is the chairman of the commission.

On 20 April 2010, 18th Constitutional Amendment was passed in the Parliament of Pakistan, which was later amended by the 19th Constitutional Amendment. In pursuance of the amendments, a judicial commission was proposed to be created to recommend the appointment of Judges of the superior courts in Pakistan.

Through the 18th Amendment in 2010, Pakistan got two forums for appointment of judges to the superior judiciary: a Judicial Commission with representation from the judiciary, lawyers and the federal government, responsible for recommending names of respective judges; and a parliamentary committee to approve or reject these names but with assigning reasons if some name is rejected.

The 18th amendment also provided (Para 3 of Article 175A) that the president shall appoint the senior most judge of the Supreme Court to the office of the Chief Justice thus formally recognizing the principle of seniority and legitimate expectancy enunciated by the apex court in the Al-Jihad case and subsequently reiterated in some other cases.