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Article 96A of the Constitution is worded as follows: ‘(1) There shall be a Judicial Appointments Committee, hereinafter in this article referred to as “the Committee”, which shall be a subcommittee of the Commission for the Administration of Justice established by article 101A of this Constitution and which shall be composed as follows: (a) the Chief Justice; (b) the Attorney General; (c) the Auditor General; (d) the Commissioner for Administrative Investigations (Ombudsman); and (e) the President of the Chamber of Advocates: … (2) The Committee shall be chaired by the Chief Justice or, in his absence, by the judge who substitutes him in accordance with paragraph (d) of sub-article (3). (3) (a) A person shall not be qualified to be appointed or to continue to hold office as a member of the Committee if he is a Minister, a Parliamentary Secretary, a Member of the House of Representatives, a member of a local government or an official or a candidate of a political party: … (4) In the exercise of their functions the members of the Committee shall act on their individual judgment and shall not be subject to the direction or control of any person or authority. … (6) The functions of the Committee shall be: (a) to receive and examine expressions of interest from persons interested in being appointed to the office of judge of the Superior Courts (other than the office of Chief Justice) or of magistrate of the Inferior Courts, except from persons to whom paragraph (e) applies; (b) to keep a permanent register of expressions of interest mentioned in paragraph (a) and to the acts relative thereto, which register shall be kept secret and shall be accessible only to the members of the Committee, to the Prime Minister and to the Minister responsible for justice; (c) to conduct interviews and evaluations of candidates for the abovementioned offices in such manner as it deems appropriate and for this purpose to request information from any public authority as it considers to be reasonably required; (d) to give advice to the Prime Minister through the Minister responsible for justice about its evaluation on the eligibility and merit of the candidates for appointment to the abovementioned offices; (e) when requested by the Prime Minister, to give advice on the eligibility and merit of persons who already occupy the offices of Attorney General, Auditor General, Commissioner for Administrative Investigations (Ombudsman) or of magistrate of the Inferior Courts to be appointed to an office in the judiciary; (f) to give advice on appointment to any other judicial office or office in the courts as the Minister responsible for justice may from time to time request: Provided that the evaluation referred to in paragraph (d) shall be made by not later than sixty days from when the Committee receives the expression of interest and the advice mentioned in paragraphs (e) and (f) shall be given by not later than thirty days from when it was requested, or within such other time limits as the Minister responsible for justice may, with the agreement of the Committee, by order in the Gazette establish. (7) The proceedings of the Committee shall be confidential and shall be held in camera and no member or secretary of the Committee may be called to give evidence before any court or other body with regard to any document received by or any matter discussed or communicated to or by the Committee. (8) The Committee shall regulate its own procedure and shall be obliged to publish, with the concurrence of the Minister responsible for justice, the criteria on which its evaluations are made.’