Summary of Expected Vacancies in the Federal Court in 2025
According to the Judicial Appointments Commission (“JAC”)’s website, there are 2 vacancies for the post of “Judge of Federal Court”[1]:
The information on the JAC’s website is presumably accurate, at the time of its publication.
However, based on publicly available information, the number of vacancies in the Federal Court are expected to rise with the following judges who have either retired or are expected to retire in 2025:
| Judge (in order of seniority of position, followed by date of appointment) |
Initial Retirement Date (if there is no extension) |
Extended? | Extended Retirement Date (if there is an extension) |
| Tun Tengku Maimun binti Tuan Mat (Chief Justice) | 1/7/25[2] | Uncertain (as at the time of writing)[3] | N/A |
| Tan Sri Datuk Amar Abang Iskandar bin Abang Hashim (President of the Court of Appeal) | 2/7/25[4] | Uncertain (as at the time of writing)[5] | N/A |
| Tan Sri Hasnah binti Dato’ Mohammed Hashim (Chief Judge of Malaya) | 14/5/25[6] | Yes, for 6 months[7] | 14/11/25 |
| Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Abdul Rahman Sebli (Chief Judge of Sabah & Sarawak) | 24/1/25[8] | Yes, for 6 months[9] | 24/7/25 |
| Tan Sri Datuk Nallini Pathmanathan | 22/8/25[10] | Uncertain (as at the time of writing)[11] | N/A |
| Dato’ Zabariah binti Mohd Yusof | 10/4/25[12] | Yes, for 6 months[13] | 10/10/25 |
| Tan Sri Harmindar Singh Dhaliwal | October 2024 | Yes, for 6 months[14] | 22/4/25[15] |
| Datuk Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil | 10/4/25[16] | Reportedly offered extension but refused the offer[17] | N/A |
| Datuk Hanipah binti Farikullah | 22/5/25[18] | Yes, for 6 months[19] | 22/11/25 |
Other than those mentioned above, six (6) Federal Court judges remain at the time of writing.[20]
Four (4) of the six (6) remaining Federal Court judges will likely be appointed to office bearer/holder positions of the Judiciary.
This would then result in a significant vacancy for the post of Judge of the Federal Court, with two judges remaining out of an ideal of eleven judges.
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