Superior judiciary: Quota for women judges opposed

MPs, bars say move is premature

ISLAMABAD: Members of a parliamentary panel as well as representatives of bar associations on Tuesday opposed a private member’s bill to fix quota for female judges in the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

The PPP Senator Babar Awan on May 17 introduced in the Senate the Supreme Court Number of Judges (Amendment) Bill, 2016 that sought to reserve one-third or six seats in 17-judge Supreme Court specifically for women.

The bill was later sent to Senate Standing Committee on Law and Justice which on Tuesday also sought input of the representatives of bar councils, a major stakeholder on the issue, on the proposed legislation.



During the discussion at the committee, chaired by Senator Javed Abbasi, almost all the participants agreed that there was no bar on the women judges in the Constitution and fixing quota for women was premature as there are lesser number of females in the judiciary across the country.

Earlier, in a written reply, Minister for Law and Justice Zahid Hamid said the government opposed the bill as the Article 177 does not make any distinction on the basis of sex and only requires that the person must be a citizen of the country. “The bill is beyond the scope of Principal Act,” the reply read.

Speaking on the occasion, Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Ali Zafar said a quota is an antithesis of merit and it will destroy the merit-based system in the judiciary. He said there is no quota system in the United Kingdom, France and several other countries.

However, the National Commission on Status of Women secretary Samina contested the viewpoint of the lawyers and stated that women must be made part of the decision-making as there was already enough violence against women.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 3^rd, 2016.