The ruling coalition’s draft of the constitutional amendment finally came to light on Saturday, a day after the Pakistan Peoples Party released its draft that seeks the establishment of federal and provincial constitutional courts.
According to the proposed amendment, the federal constitutional court will consist of seven members, including a chief justice and two senior-most judges.
The draft has proposed that the president based on the advice of the prime minister would appoint the first chief justice of the federal constitutional court.
The appointment of the first chief justice and three senior judges would be made based on recommendations from a committee. The committee would include four members of Parliament, the federal law minister, and a representative from the Pakistan Bar Council.
The proposed amendment states that a commission would be established for the appointment of judges to the constitutional court, with the chief justice of the federal constitutional court serving as its head. The commission would also include five senior-most judges from the constitutional court, as well as the federal law minister, the attorney general for Pakistan, a representative from the Supreme Court Bar Association, and four members of Parliament.
This commission would also include five senior-most judges from the constitutional court, as well as the federal law minister, the attorney general for Pakistan, a representative from the Supreme Court Bar Association, and four members of Parliament.
The commission for the appointment of Supreme Court judges will include the chief justice of the Supreme Court and five senior-most judges, according to the proposal.
The proposed structure of the federal constitutional court includes equal representation from all four provinces. The federal constitutional court’s chief justice will serve a term of three years, with an upper age limit of 68 years for judges.
The commission responsible for appointing SC judges will be chaired by the apex court’s CJ. For the appointment of high court judges, the commission would include the relevant chief justice and the senior-most judges. The provincial law minister and a representative from the high court Bar would also be part of the commission overseeing high court judges’ appointments.
Both the positions of chief justices of the Supreme Court and the federal constitutional court would have a term of three years.
After consultations regarding candidates qualified to be judges, the prime minister would forward the matter to the president. The president in consultation with the chief justice would appoint the remaining members of the federal constitutional court. The names of the chief justice and judges would be submitted to the prime minister through a parliamentary committee.
Under the proposed amendment, candidates for judgeships must be at least 40 years old and possess three years of judicial experience along with 10 years of legal practice. A federal constitutional council would be established to oversee the removal of judges, with the final approval for any judge’s removal resting with the president.
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The amendment specifies that decisions made by the federal constitutional court “cannot be challenged in any other court” while appeals against the rulings of the four provincial constitutional courts could be made in the federal court.
Moreover, the appointment of the Supreme Court’s chief justice would also be conducted through an eight-member parliamentary committee, with the chief justice chosen from among the three senior-most judges.
In a related development, a parliamentary special committee meeting was held under the chairmanship of PPP MNA Khursheed Shah to reach a consensus on the draft of constitutional amendments, with representatives from both the government and opposition parties in attendance.
While government coalition parties have united on the issue, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl has declined to support the proposed amendments.
