JCP nominates BHC, SHC chief justices

• JCP nominates Justice Rajput as top judge of SHC.
• Justice Mulakhail nominated as CJ of BHC.
• JCP meets first time after 27th Amendment.
  

The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) on Tuesday unanimously recommended appointing permanent chief justices to the Sindh High Court (SHC) and Balochistan High Court (BHC).

The forum, in its first meeting after the 27th Constitutional Amendment and the establishment of the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC), nominated SHC Acting Chief Justice Zafar Ahmed Rajput and BHC Acting Chief Justice Muhammad Kamran Khan Mulakhail as permanent chief justices.

A meeting of the JCP was held with Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi in the chair at the Supreme Court to make recommendations for key judicial appointments.

The forum also recommended elevating Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb — an Islamabad High Court judge currently serving as an acting judge of the Supreme Court — as a permanent judge of the SC, with the decision approved by a majority of the JCP’s total membership.

The JCP, by a majority of its total membership, constituted a committee comprising the FCC’s Justice Aamer Farooq, Attorney-General for Pakistan Mansoor Usman Awan, Senator Farooq Hamid Naek, Senator Syed Ali Zafar, and Muhammad Ahsan Bhoon, for making draft rules under clause (20) of Article 175A of the Constitution.

Who are new HC CJs?

Born on October 16, 2025, Justice Rajput did his LLB from Government Jinnah Law College, Hyderabad, and Masters in International Relations from the University of Sindh.

Justice Rajput was enrolled with the Sindh Bar Council as an advocate in 1990 and became an Advocate of the High Court in 2001.

He practiced law for three years before he was selected as a Judicial Magistrate in 1993. He was promoted as Senior Civil Judge and Assistant Sessions Judge in the year 2000.

Justice Rajput was elevated as a Judge of the SHC on August 31, 2013, and since then, he has served at the Principal Seat at Karachi, as well as the Bench in Sukkur and Circuit Courts in Hyderabad and Larkana.

There are over 12,000 disposal of cases to his credit. He took the oath as acting CJ of the SHC on September 15, 2025.

Meanwhile, Malakhail was born on January 19, 1968, in Quetta. He graduated in Law from the University Law College, Quetta, in 1994.

Justice Malakhail represented the Balochistan Bar Council in the Judicial Commission of Pakistan in its first-ever historic meeting. He also participated in the first meeting of the commission, which had approved the proposed draft of the commission rules.

He was elevated as additional judge of the BHC on August 30, 2013 and confirmed as judge of the court on September 2, 2015.