Review amendment on judges’ appointment, says Pakistani apex court

ISLAMABAD - The Supreme Court of Pakistan Thursday directed the government to review an amendment to the constitution pertaining to appointments of judges to superior court on the ground that it was detrimental to judiciary’s freedom.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry gave the verdict on the petitions challenging certain clauses of the 18th amendment to the constitution.

The amendment was invoked in April this year with consensus among representatives of all the political parties present in parliament.

“Parliament is asked to review Article 175-A, for it has harmed judiciary’s freedom,” the chief justice said.

Justice Chaudhry said that “parliament and the judiciary are indispensable to each other and both should work to uphold the rule of law”.

“Article 175-A of the constitution will be sent back to parliament for review,” said the verdict.

The ruling also dictates that under another article of the constitution, “the behaviour of judges of higher judiciary could not be brought under discussion at parliament”.

The hearing of the case has been adjourned till January 2011.

The Pakistani parliament had made more than 100 changes in the constitution, including renaming the North Western Frontier Province (NWFP) as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and withdrawing an article that deals with the powers of the president to disband parliament.

However, the most controversial amendment pertained to the power to appoint judges of the superior courts that was at the disposal of a judicial commission headed by chief justice.

The judicial commission was to include the law minister and the attorney general as well and its recommendations were to be vetted by an eight-member parliamentary committee before a superior court judge was appointed.

The amendment was challenged in the Supreme Court, which started hearing the case May 24. A 17-member full-bench heard more than 20 different petitions and concluded the hearings Sep 30.

The petitioners said that the amendment was an attempt by the government to subvert the independence of judiciary in wake of the strained government-judiciary relations prior to the reinstatement of deposed judges.

Chief Justice Chaudhry and several other judges of the Supreme Court and high courts were suspended by former president Pervez Musharraf in November 2007.

The Pakistan Peoples Party government, after assuming power in 2008, also showed reluctance to reinstate the judges and was forced to do it after a long march by opposition party PML-N and intervention of army chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani to avert a crisis.

“The parliament had no right to include such an amendment,” said leading Supreme Court lawyer Akram Shaikh.

Another jurist, Salman Akram Raja, who argued in favour of the amendment, termed it “a historic judgment” and said: “It has nullified any hopes amongst certain quarters of a government-judiciary standoff.”

Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed, while talking to Dunya News, said the government has to accept the apex court’s authority.

(Awais Saleem can be contacted at ians.pakistan@gmail.com)