Call to set up Constitution Court and rationalize judicial appointments

Abdullah Jan

Islamabad: President human rights cell of the PPP ex-Senator Farhatullah Babar has said that a historic opportunity had presented itself to do away with a chaotic approach to the constitution by setting up and federal constitution court and streamline procedure for the appointment of judges to guard against a dangerous tendency of a judiciary of the judges, for the judges by the judges.

He was speaking at a dialogue with civil society at SZBIST in Islamabad on Sunday.

He said that the appointment of judges has been dangerously centralized as chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry alone appointed over a hundred and sacked another hundred judges of superior courts all by himself. It is not to question the competence and integrity of judges thus selected by one individual, he said. It is a far more serious issue namely stuffing the superior courts with likeminded judges and turning it into a monolithic unit like a military battalion, he said.

He said that the parliament through 18th Amendment sought to rationalize judges’ appointment but the judiciary under Chaudhry stood in the way and discreetly threatened to undo the constitutional Amendment if the parliament itself did not revisit this provision. Unfortunately the parliament and the political parties had cold feet and back tracked.

He said that it was an irony that the judiciary allowed the generals and itself to re-write and superimpose the constitution but denied the people to exercise this right through their elected representatives in the parliament.

A constitution Court is needed to address constitutional issues alone so as to reduce burden of cases of ordinary litigants and inject an element of provincial balance in addressing constitutional issues. If the political power has been rationalized among provinces by setting up senate why the judicial power should also be not balanced between provinces by providing for equal number of judges from all provinces in it he asked.

He said that nearly four lac cases were pending in the courts of which over 60 thousand were in the SC because the constructional cases have to be accorded priority and they also take time. As the common litigants suffer incalculably the trust in the state and judiciary also erodes.

He said that since the days of Chaudhry Iftikhar it has been observed that the constitution was not what was written in it but what the judges said it was, as in the case of Article 63-A. The need for a separate Constitution Court has become even more urgent.

He said that after the 18th amendment the constitutional court is needed to address issues between the federation and the provinces.

Rejecting the claim that the constitution court was against the basic structure of the state he said that the basic structure of the state rested on the separation of powers, the independence of judiciary and the fundamental rights of the citizens and asked in what way the constitution court undermined the so called basic structure or independence of judiciary.

The seminar was also addressed by ex Senator Afrasiab Khattak, Barrister Masood Kausar, CEO Bhutto Foundation Asif Khan, General Secretary ppp HR Cell Samana Malaika Raza and followed by interactive session with lawyers, academia, media, former civil servants, political activists and other members of civil society.