NA panel okays tweak in 24th amendment

Amendment to allow right of appeal against SC decision

ISLAMABAD: As the Panama Leaks case enters its final stages in the Supreme Court, the government has accelerated work on the 24th amendment which, if passed, could come handy in case of any adverse decision from the top court.

The National Assembly’s standing committee on law and justice on Monday gave a go-ahead to 24th amendment in the Constitution which will give right of appeal to any aggrieved party against an order of the Supreme Court taken up under top court’s jurisdiction in clause (3) of Article 184 of the Constitution.



The proposed amendment would provide an option of appeal within thirty days of an order of the Supreme Court. This appeal would be heard by a bench larger than the bench which had passed the order under appeal.



Given the numbers, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz along with its allies has enough strength to pass the amendment in the National Assembly. Once passed from the lower house, the proposed amendment will be referred to Senate where it would again need support of two-thirds of its members. To attain the required numbers ruling party would need support of opposition groups, particularly Pakistan Peoples Party which is largest party in the upper house.

PPP’s Farhatullah Babar says his party has objection over the timing of this amendment as government plans to use it as contingency plan in the wake of Panama Leaks. “In principle, we support it and this had been our official stance. But we have reservations over its timing,” he told The Express Tribune.



Besides the 24th amendment bill, the Alternate Dispute Resolution Bill, 2016, the Costs of Litigation Bill, 2016 and the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2015 (Insertion of new Article 19-B) were also on agenda of the panel’s meeting.

The committee considered the Alternate Dispute Resolution Bill, 2016. The bill proposes mechanism for redressal of grievances of litigants and to provide for speedy dispensation of justice and reduce burden on courts.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 10^th, 2017.