Senate bill seeks to amend Article 175A

PPP Senator Farooq Hamid Naek on Monday tabled a bill in the Senate and sought constitutional amendment to Article 175A of the Constitution, which deals with the appointment of judges to the Supreme Court, high courts and the Federal Shariat Court.

The PPP senator said that the amendments being proposed to Article 175A are "primarily related to the role and functioning, especially the timeframe available to the parliamentary committee”.

The only new thing being recommended is ‘Initiation Committees’ for the initiation of nomination(s) for the appointment of judges of the high courts.

According to the statement of object and reasons, Naek stated that pursuant to the 18th Constitutional Amendment, appointments in the superior courts are processed through two forums: Judicial Commission (JC) and Parliamentary Committee (PC).

The senator said that the role of the parliamentary committee, which was carved out cautiously by the drafters of the 18th Constitutional Amendment, assigned only 14 days’ timeframe to it to confirm or not a nomination by a three-fourth majority of its total membership, failing which the nomination shall be deemed to have been confirmed.

Naek said that the parliamentary committee’s role was further eroded by the changes enacted through the 19th Constitutional Amendment and the judgments of the superior courts in different cases overturning the decisions of the Parliamentary Committee.

He said that the Parliamentary Committee members across the party lines had apprehensions that the role of the Committee and its members has been marginalized to the extent of elimination and the committee has become a mere post office.

He maintained that voices from different segments of the society most important and relevant ones from the Pakistan Bar Council and different Bar Associations were echoing the same concerns.

In its meeting held on August 23, 2013, he continued, the Parliamentary Committee constituted a Sub Committee comprising of Senator Farooq Hamid Naek, Senator Malik M. Rafique Rajwana and Ch. Mahmood Bashir Virk, MNA, to draft the amendment to Article 175A of the Constitution for reforming the constitutional system of judicial appointments with an aim to ensure independence of judiciary by appointment of most suitable persons as judges of superior courts.

Naek said that the sub-committee held nationwide consultations and invited elected representatives of Bar Associations and Councils as well as other legal luminaries and framers of 18th Constitutional Amendment to solicit opinion and views.

The report of the sub-committee containing Draft Constitutional Amendment Bill was approved by the Parliamentary Committee on Appointment of Judges in the superior Courts after due consultation with the Ministry of Law.

As decided by the committee, he said, the bill was sent to the Ministry of Law and Justice to introduce in either of the Houses as Government Bill.

The committee after getting response from the federal law minister that the government do not intend to introduce the bill in the near future, decided that the Bill be introduced as Private Members Bill on behalf of the committee members and the parliamentary party leaders.