SC backs bolstering of parliamentary system

The SC continued the hearing of the petitions against certain clauses of the 18th amendment.

ISLAMABAD: A dictator captures the country in the dark of night by paralysing each and everything and the court endorses the action, Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry observed on Wednesday, adding that due to specific circumstances of the country the SC had set aside the past decisions in its July 31 verdict.

The CJP made the observation while presiding over a 17-member larger bench of the SC here during the course of hearing of identical constitutional petitions seeking nullification of certain clauses of the 18th amendment.

“Much has been done in the country in the past and the courts have been indemnifying the acts of military rulers. We want parliamentary system to gain strength in the country. The sitting parliament has also returned all the powers to the prime minister while a presidential system instead of a parliamentary system is put in place during the martial law,” he observed.

The SC once again summoned record pertaining to the proceedings of all the meetings of the constitutional reforms committee and 980 recommendations presented during its meetings.

The court, while reprimanding the attorney general, maintained that all this was public documentary record and it should have been kept by him in the bar room. But the federation has not presented the record so far to the court, the SC held.

Giving arguments with reference to supremacy of the parliament, counsel for federation Waseem Sajjad said parliament was fully empowered to make amendment in the constitution and the parliament could also amend Article-21 in which the objective resolution had been made part of the constitution.

Justice Tassadaq Hussain Jillani observed that the major objective of the 18th amendment was to include 58(2)b in the constitution while the Objective Resolution and other points had their legal position.

If Article 2 was excluded even then it would stay as a preamble of the Constitution and every new amendment would have to be adjudged on the touchstone of the basic points laid down in Article 2-A, Justice Ramday remarked.

The parliament could amend the 18th amendment but it could not change any part of the Objective Resolution,” Justice Shakirullah Khan observed.

Waseem Sajjad held forth that parliament was authorised to make amendment to Article 2-A and basic features were ‘amendable’. The principle to make amendment in basic structure was not applicable in Pakistan, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, July  29^th, 2010.