Bifurcation of powers: The time has come for two federal courts, says Governor Khosa

‘The new system is necessary to deal with mounting number of cases’.

LAHORE:

Governor Sardar Latif Khan Khosa said on Monday the time has come for a Federal Constitutional Court along with the Supreme Court because of the increasing number of cases.

Khosa, speaking at a press conference at the Governor’s House, said the judicial system has collapsed and suggested that two separate courts were needed.

He said Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry should head the Supreme Court while the Federal Constitutional Court should be headed by another person. He said Chaudhry should focus on civil and criminal cases and the other court hear constitutional matters.

He said that the basic purpose of a judicial system, to serve the ordinary man, was not being met. He said the type of system he was proposing had been successful in Australia and South Africa.

The governor said that the PPP and the PML-N had agreed in the Charter of Democracy (CoD) to establish a two-court system, but Nawaz Sharif had been reluctant to cooperate with the PPP government on this.

He also said that under Article 69 of the Constitution no court could hear an objection to the proceedings of a legislative assembly or a ruling of its speakers. Khosa said he did not believe the apex court would rule against the speaker’s verdict in the petitions filed by the PML-N and PTI.

Federal Minister Makhdom Shahabuddin said the Pakistan Agriculture Storage & Services Corporation Limited (PASCO) had been given the task to procure 2 million tons of wheat and had so far purchased 1.2 million tons. He said the Punjab government had set itself a 4 million tons target but so far had purchased only 1.4 million tons.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 29^th, 2012.