ISLAMABAD:
Once again, the federal government managed to get its way with the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP), which on Saturday rejected a suggestion to nominate all judges of the Supreme Court to its Constitutional Bench (CB) by a majority of 7 to 6.
Most of the JCP judicial members (Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail) wanted all SC judges to be part of the CB. Two PTI members, Advocate Gahar Ali Khan and Advocate Ali Zafar, supported his view.
Government representatives in the JCP, however, stated that it was not necessary to appoint all judges to the special court dealing with constitutional matters. The judicial members faced embarrassment when their own judge, Justice Aminuddin Khan, did not support their suggestion.
Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) representative Akhtar Hussain also did not support the idea of nominating all SC judges to the CB.
Commenting on this development, former Additional Solicitor General Waqar Rana said that it is an unfortunate decision as now the independence of judiciary is totally compromised.
“It is tragic that the PBC representative always shamelessly votes along the group’s lines. The performance of the current CB is abysmal and highly disappointing and a complete capitulation of the judiciary,” he added.
On Saturday, the PCJ also voted on the extension of the current CB. Most JCP members supported the extension of the Justice Aminuddin Khan-led CB by six months. It is known that the majority of PCJ members did not agree to formulate rules regarding the appointment of judges to the CB.
Earlier, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, as a member of the JCP, had urged that the proposed rules should provide a mechanism and criteria for nomination and determination of number of judges in the coordination bodies of the Supreme Court and high courts.
“The commission has already nominated and appointed several judges of the Supreme Court and the Sindh High Court to the CBs in the absence of any established mechanism or criteria.
“Therefore, there has been no logic or reason supporting the appointment and determination of the number of judges for the CBs of the Supreme Court and the Sindh High Court,” said a nine-page letter written by Justice Shah to the Registrar of the PCJ.
Justice Shah suggested that the criteria may include the number of judges’ rulings on the interpretation of the Constitution; including dissents or additional notes on constitutional law that have been written by the judge while serving on a larger court hearing important constitutional matters. “The proposed rules say nothing about that,” he said.
Since November 4, the current CB of the Supreme Court cannot issue any informed judgment.
Former Sindh High Court Bar Association president Salahuddin Ahmed said that all SC judges from the JCP voted in favor of nominating all SC judges as members of the constitutional court, with the exception of Justice Aminuddin Khan.
“Justice Khan, the current head of the CB, voted in favor of continuing with the current setup along with all the government candidates. The government finally got its way and this particular court will continue to hear all cases close to the government heart,” he stated.
Ahmed said even the appearance of a separation between the government and the judiciary is wasted. “It was time for all judges, including those in the CB, to re-examine their role in allowing the judiciary to become a subordinate department of the government.
“The same goes for the PBC representative, who must affirm the college’s commitment to an independent judiciary rather than faithful adherence to the government’s position,” he added.
Earlier, the JCP thoroughly reviewed the draft Pakistan Judicial Commission (Appointment of Judges) Rules, 2024. The commission also considered the public comments received on the proposed rules and after extensive deliberations, approved the proposed rules with certain amendments.
It was learned that the approved rules would be made public on the SC website on Monday.
