Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial the other day wrote a new history of Pakistan’s judiciary when he made public the audio of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan’s (JCP) proceedings wherein his five nominees for the elevation to the Supreme Court were reportedly snubbed.

Justice Bandial, who is also the chairman of the JCP, took the decision after two JCP members – Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Sardar Tariq Masood – penned down separately to the chairman and other commission members, contesting what was said by the PRO in a statement about the meeting.

“In these exceptional circumstances the Hon’ble chairman JCP has been pleased to relax the restriction under Rule 5(4) of the JCP Rules, 2010 and has directed for the audio recording of the JCP proceedings of 28.07.2022 to be made available on the official website of the SCP,” said a statement issued by the apex court.

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The Supreme Court, in its statement, claimed that the “audio recording from time slot 1:29:45 to 1:38:08 contains the statement” made by Attorney-General for Pakistan Ashtar Ausaf Ali, led to the deferment of the meeting as claimed by the PRO.

The statement also claimed that the AGP “did not assess or reject the merits of any of the High Court judges proposed for appointment to the SCP”.

“As a result, 5 members of the JCP supported the deferment of the meeting as reported in the Press Note of 28.07.2022,” said the SCP.

The development comes amid brewing tensions regarding the JCP meeting and the matter of elevation of junior high court judges to the top court.

Senior lawyers have termed the matter “a clash of personal egos,” pointing out that judges were just keen to avoid the impression that they were in the minority in the meeting.

However, the CJP’s unprecedented move has ended this controversy as it was created by some sections of the civil society and legal fraternity.