Senate Committee Approves Increase of Supreme Court Judges to 25

Islamabad: The Senate’s Standing Committee on Law and Justice has approved a proposal to increase the number of judges in the Supreme Court to 25. The new structure will include one Chief Justice and 24 judges.
During the meeting, Senators Kamran Murtaza and Hamid Khan expressed their opposition to the increase, emphasizing the need for careful consideration of the country’s financial constraints. Senator Shahadat Awan suggested that the minimum number of judges should be set at 21, citing the rising number of pending cases, which reportedly stands at around 60,000.
The Committee Chairman questioned the Secretary of Law about the time needed to provide detailed information on case loads, to which the Secretary responded that at least three weeks would be necessary.
Senator Murtaza argued that the recently appointed Chief Justice should be given two to three months to assess the situation. Senator Khan pointed out the poverty of the country and the financial burden of increasing judges, while Senator Abdul Qadir highlighted the rising crime rate due to population growth, indicating that the current number of judges has remained unchanged since 1995.
The discussion also touched on the 26th constitutional amendment, which may require judges to allocate time to constitutional benches as the workload increases. The Committee noted that there are currently vacancies for judges in Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Punjab.
While Senator Khan maintained that simply increasing the number of judges would not resolve the issues of justice delivery, Senator Murtaza questioned the need for more judges, citing previous instances of vacant positions and low case listings.
Despite the opposition, the committee ultimately approved the proposal, moving forward with plans to increase the number of judges in the Supreme Court to 25, with ongoing debates about the adequacy and necessity of such a move.