ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) has amended the judicial code of conduct to allow judges of the superior courts to attend political and diplomatic functions with the permission of the relevant chief justice, according to changes approved by the council and released on Saturday.
The amendment relaxes a longstanding prohibition on judges attending such events and forms part of a broader revision of the code following recent changes to Pakistan’s judicial structure, including the creation of the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC).
“The Judges of the superior courts would abstain from presiding/attending any political and diplomatic functions except with the permission of relevant Chief Justice,” the amended code states.
The previous version of the code said judges “would abstain from presiding/attending any social, cultural, political and diplomatic functions.”
The amended provision no longer refers to social and cultural events, reflecting a broader relaxation of restrictions on judges’ attendance at public events.
The amendments were approved at an SJC meeting chaired by Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi on June 11 and made public through a press release on Saturday.
The council also revised various provisions of the code to incorporate the FCC into procedures governing judicial conduct and the reporting of attempts to influence court proceedings.
The title of the code was changed from “Code of Conduct for Judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts” to “Code of Conduct for Judges of the Federal Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court and the High Courts.”
The FCC was created under constitutional reforms enacted in recent years to hear constitutional matters that were previously decided by the Supreme Court.
