27th Amendment ‘dethrones’ Supreme Court, legal experts warn
ISLAMABAD: The initial draft of the 27th Constitutional Amendment Bill,
tabled in the Senate on Saturday, has led many legal experts to believe that the tweaks would, in effect, dethrone the Supreme Court as the country’s highest judicial forum, ceding that position to a proposed Federal Constitutional Court (FCC).
However, proponents of the amendment say the new constitutional court would modernise the judiciary, reduce backlogs and separate constitutional and appellate jurisdictions — a reform they argue will improve efficiency and clarity in the justice system.
Amendment to Article 175, he said, was “virtually the end of the judiciary as we knew it”, arguing that the Supreme Court had been “amended out of the Constitution by making it irrelevant”.
Former additional attorney general Tariq Mehmood Khokhar said the essence of the package was twofold.
First, the insertion of a new Chapter 1A in the Constitution that, in his view, tightens executive control over the superior judiciary through expanded powers to transfer high court judges, and establishes an FCC “empowered by disempowering the Supreme Court”.
Second, an amendment to Article 243 that formally vests the office of Chief of the Defence Forces in the Chief of the Army Staff and constitutionally guarantees the Field Marshal rank for life.
Another lawyer, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said that although the senior-most of the two chiefs would chair the Judicial Commission of Pakistan, “for all other purposes, the FCC will be in the commanding position”.
He pointed out that wherever the oaths of judges of the Supreme Court and FCC are mentioned, the FCC is referenced first. “It is clear now which court is higher in terms of hierarchy,” he said.
He noted that under the amended Article 175A, the chief justice of the FCC is listed before the chief justice of the Supreme Court and will have a longer tenure, retiring at 68, compared to the current retirement age of 65 for Supreme Court judges.
Article 175 tweak "ends judiciary as we knew it", says senior counsel.
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