Pakistan’s Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) has amended the judicial code of conduct, allowing superior court judges to attend political and diplomatic functions with the permission of the relevant chief justice.
The change was approved during an SJC meeting chaired by Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi on June 11 and was made public through a press release on Saturday.
Under the amended code, judges of the superior courts “would abstain from presiding/attending any political and diplomatic functions except with the permission of relevant Chief Justice.”
The earlier version barred judges from presiding over or attending “any social, cultural, political and diplomatic functions.” The updated clause removes references to social and cultural events, easing the previous restrictions on judges’ attendance at public gatherings.
The amendment is part of a broader revision of the judicial code following recent changes to Pakistan’s court structure, including the establishment of the Federal Constitutional Court.
The SJC has also updated several provisions to include the Federal Constitutional Court in procedures related to judicial conduct and the reporting of attempts to influence court proceedings.
The title of the code has also been revised 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 Federal Constitutional Court was created under constitutional reforms to hear constitutional matters that were previously decided by the Supreme Court.
