- PM Shehbaz advises president to give assent to legal reform.
- Aiwan-e-Sadr confirms postponement of ceremony slate for 6am.
- Secretariat says new time will be announced later for today.
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari is expected to sign the 26th Constitutional Amendment Bill into law upon the advice of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif today (Monday) following the approval of the said legislation by the parliament.
The ceremony was originally slated to take place at 6am — another announcement was made for 8am as well — will now be held at some other time today, the time for which will be announced later, confirmed the Aiwan-e-Sadr Secretariat.
The development comes after the ruling coalition succeeded in pushing the highly contentious judicial reforms through the Parliament via a two-thirds majority with 225 and 65 votes in the lower and upper house, respectively.
Under the judicial reforms — opposed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) which boycotted the voting process — the chief justice of Pakistan will now be selected by a parliamentary committee and have a fixed term of three years. Also, a new constitutional bench will also be formed under the constitutional package.
Following the late-night marathon session in the Parliament, PM Shehbaz sent an advice to President Zardari in the wee hours of Monday to give his assent and sign the legislation into law.
The treasury benches, comprising 211 seats, required 224 votes in the NA. However, their numbers rose to 219 following the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl’s (JUI-F) support.
The amendments were passed after the PTI-backed independent lawmakers including Zahoor Qureshi, Aurangzeb Khichi, Usman Ali, and Mubarak Zeb voted in favour of the motion along with the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid’s (PML-Q) Chaudhry Ilyas.
Highlights of the bill
- Chief Justice of Pakistan’s (CJP) tenure fixed at three years.
- Constitutional benches to be established at the SC and high courts.
- Senior-most judge of each bench to serve as presiding officer.
- Parliamentary committee to nominate new CJP from panel of three most senior judges.
- Committee to propose name to PM, who will then forward it to president for final approval.
- JCP, led by CJP and three others, responsible for appointment of SC judges.
- JCP to monitor judges’ performance, report any concerns to Supreme Judicial Council.
- Complete eradication of Riba (interest) from country by January 1, 2028.
