Supreme Court constitutes larger bench to hear petitions challenging 18th Amendment

By SyedMAslam

Supreme Court of Pakistan, the apex court of the country, has constituted a five-member larger bench headed by Justice Nasirul Mulk to hear a number of identical constitutional petitions challenging the Eighteenth Amendment passed by both the National Assembly and the Senate. Geo News reported Saturday.

The other members of the five-member bench include Justice Raja Fayyaz, Justice Rehman Hussain Jaffery, Justice Jawwad Owais Khawja and Justice Tariq Pervaiz. The Bench will start hearing the constitution petitions from April 28.

The petition filed by Nadeem Ahmad, a lawyer, takes the plea that formation of judicial commission is the violation of article 175 of the Constitution. The other petitions challenging some of the clauses of the 18th amendment, particularly those pertaining to the appointment of judges of the apex courts through a Judicial Commission that comprise politicians, the 18th Amendment are filed by Ejazul Haq, the son of the former military ruler Zia-ul-Haq; President of Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan Qazi Muhammad Anwar, Rawalpindi District Bar Association and others

Speaking to the media at the Supreme Court in Islamabad, Ejaz had blasted the government saying that a party chief should not be allowed to dismiss a party member even if he/she is the prime minister. He had also objected to the set-up of the commission to appoint judges.

On April 16, the Chief Justice Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad ChaudhryIftikhar Muhammad ChaudhryIftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had reminded the parliament about the limits to legislative authority. A day later a petition was filed on Saturday against the 18th Amendment, which proposed judicial appointments through a judicial commission. The Chief Justice speaking at the National Judicial Conference had said that the legislature had to work within its boundaries to make within the strict parameters of the constitution