A Senate committee has greenlit a constitutional amendment draft to give parliament a say in appointment of judges to the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP).
By Ahmer Kureishi
ISLAMABAD: The Senate Committee on Law & Justice Thursday put its seal on a constitutional amendment bill looking to bring changes to the mode of appointment of judges to the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP).
The bill, moved in the Upper House of the Parliament by Senator Farooq H Naek of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) early this month, purports to allow the Parliament a say in the process true to the spirit of the Eighteenth Amendment, basically by removing the distortion introduced by the Nineteenth Amendment.
A constitutional amendment bill can originate in either of the two houses of Pakistan’s bicameral Parliament. However, each house has to pass such a bill with a two-thirds supermajority of its total membership.
Now that the committee, chaired by Senator Ali Zafar, Bar at Law, has given its assent to the bill, the way is now clear for it to be put to a vote in Senate. After clearing the Upper House, it will be referred for the National Assembly’s approval.
After the bill clears both the houses, Article 175A of the Constitution will stand amended so that the constitution of the Judicial Commission will change in that it will now include four instead of five SCP judges.
As well, the Parliamentary Committee will regain the final say on the appointment of judges to the SCP; and a new Committee called the “Initiation Committee” will be formed to nominate judges for the considerations of the Judicial Commission.
Prior to granting its approval to the bill, the Committee debated the constitutional amendment bill at length.
Committee Chairman Barrister Ali Zafar gave an overview of the history of the process of appointment of judges to the SCP. He said that previously there was an unofficial process of consultation between the executive and the concerned chief justices through which the judges were appointed.
However, the 18th and 19th Amendments instituted a more transparent and robust process in which the Judges were appointed in stage one by a Judicial Commission and then as a second stage by a Parliamentary Committee.
He pointed out that through a judgement of the Supreme Court, the powers of the Parliamentary Committee were taken away and it was left without any jurisdiction to deny the nominations made by the Judicial Commission.
Barrister Ali Zafar further pointed out that the recent meeting of the Judicial Commission also showed that there was a need to maintain a balance decisions could be made in a more transparent and structured manner.
Regarding the amendments, he pointed out that the composition of the Judicial Commission is being changed so that there would now be 4 instead of 5 judges on the Commission, including the Chief Justice of Pakistan.
The remaining 3 members would the Law Minister, the Attorney General of Pakistan and a representative from the Pakistan Bar Council. In this manner the majority of the Judicial Commission will still remain with the Judges.
The second part relates to re-empowering the Parliamentary Committee, which will now be able to accept or reject the nominations and its decision will not be subject to challenge in the Supreme Court or a High Court.
“In this manner, there would be a two-layered process to ensure that the best person is appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Judiciary”, Senator Zafar explained.
The amendment also purports to institute an Initiation Committee which would nominate the Judges of the High Courts for consideration by the Judicial Commission and the Parliamentary Committee.
Previously there was no Initiation Committee and the nomination for the appointment of High Court Judges was made by the Chief Justice of Pakistan.
Barrister Ali Zafar opposed this Initiation Committee by stating that the matter of nomination should be left to the discretion of the Chief Justice of Pakistan and the relevant Judges of the High Courts.
He was of the view that the nominations can be considered or rejected first by the Judicial Commission and then by the Parliamentary Committee and thus there was no need to add a third tier, which would only complicate the matter.
However, after due deliberation, the Committee decided to approve the amendment pertaining to the Initiation Committee.
The amendment also purports to set timeframes for the decisions of the Initiation Committee, the Judicial Commission, and the Parliamentary Committee.
The Committee also considered the matter of Eden Estate claimants, and quizzed the Chairman National Accountability Bureau (NAB) over the matter to its satisfaction.
The Committee also approved a bill relating to publication of laws.
The meeting was attended by Senator Rana Maqbool Ahmad, Senator Farooq Hamid Naek, Senator Azam Khan Swati, Senator Munzoor Ahmad Kakar, and Senator Shibli Faraz.
Minister for Law and Justice Azam Nazeer Tarar along with other senior officers of the concerned departments were also in attendance.
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