ISLAMABAD Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reforms (PCCR) has altered the judges appointment criteria in superior judiciary in the light of the Supreme Court of Pakistans interim order but refused to curtail the strong role of the eight-member Parliamentary Committee to oversee the working of the Judicial Commission. The PCCR has also constituted a seven-member sub-committee to draft the 19th Amendment Bill, so that the same could be presented before the National Assembly for approval in the upcoming session. Talking to media persons after the committees meeting Senator Mian Raza Rabbani said that the committee had discussed all the issues relating to the appointment criteria of judges in superior courts in the light of the interim order of the court and the recommendations sent along with the order. He further said that they had tried to address all the concerns of the apex court regarding the appointment of the judges in a unanimous fashion and the same would be incorporated in the 19th Amendment bill and a seven members sub-committee was constituted to draft the 19th Amendment Bill and it would meet on Dec 7 to initiate its work. To a question Mian Raza Rabbani said that it would be premature to say that all the recommendations sent along with the interim order of the Supreme Court of Pakistan were accepted and would be accommodated in the 19th Amendment draft bill. The seven members sub-committee of PCCR comprised Senator Mian Raza Rabbani, who would also head the committee, Ishaq Dar, Wasim Sajjad, SM Zafar, Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao, Afrasiab Khattak and Syed Naveed Qamar. During the meeting an in-depth view of Article 175-A of the constitution under the 18th amendment was once again taken and after long deliberations the members of the committee agreed to accept most of the recommendations of the Supreme Court sent along with the interim verdict of the apex court, sources in the committee informed The Nation. The sources further informed that the committee had agreed to increase the strength of serving Supreme Court of Pakistan judges, including Chief Justice of Pakistan, head of the Judicial Commission, from three to five in the Judicial Commission while the role of Prime Minister was also incorporated in the whole exercise as the eight-member Parliamentary Committee would now forward the name of any candidate forwarded by Judicial Commission to him (Prime Minister) and he would then send it to President for formal notification. These sources further said that the PCCR was unanimous in its view not to curtail the role of eight-member Parliamentary Committee and the powers to turn down any recommendation of Judicial Commission with three-fourth of strength would be final and the proposal that Judicial Commission could resend the rejected name back to the Parliamentary Committee for approval with binding effect on committee to approve it was not accepted. However, for rejection of any name proposed by the Judicial Commission the Parliamentary Committee, besides requiring three-fourth of the strength that means six out of eight members, has to list solid reasons but its decision would be final in this regard. The Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Refroms was chaired by Senator Raza Rabbani while Sardar Mehtab Ahmad Khan Abbasi, Abdul Rahim Mandokhel, Senator Haji Adeel, Dr Farooq Sattar, Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, SM Zafar and other members were in attendance.