ISLAMABAD - The National Assembly Standing Committee on Law and Justice Thursday deferred consideration of the bill seeking competitive examination for the appointment of judges of the High Courts and the Federal Shariat Court due to absence of the mover; former National Assembly Speaker and senior Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Asad Qaisar from the committee meeting.
The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2024 moved by Asad Qaiser has sought amendment in Article 175A of the constitution to provide for appointment of Judges of the High Courts on merit on the basis of competitive examination so as to promote meritocracy in the country and to curb favoritism in the appointment of judges of the High Courts in the country. The Bill says that for appointment of Judges of the High Courts and Federal Shariat Court, the Commission shall conduct competitive examination and that the Commission shall make rules in this regard. It further said that the Commission shall recommend the names of persons who qualify the examination to the President for their appointment as Judge of the High Court or Shariat Court, as the case may be.
The same bill also proposed that the term of the Chief Election Commissioner shall be one year. On completion of the one-year term of the Chief Election Commissioner, the member of the Election Commission of Pakistan from each province in alphabetic order shall be appointed as Chief Election Commissioner, the Bill proposed. The Committee also did not consider the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2024 (Article 198) moved by Changaze Ahmad Khan and deferred the same due to non-availability of the mover.
The meeting of the Standing Committee was held under the chairmanship of Ch. Mahmood Bashir Virk at the Parliament House, Islamabad. The committee considered the Bill, the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2024 (Article 27) moved by Aliya Kamran. After detailed deliberations, the Committee recommended with majority that the Bill may not be passed by the assembly. The Bill had sought to substitute the word “forty” with the word “sixty” in Article 27 of the Constitution so that quota for jobs proposed in the Constitution for development and to provide opportunities to the people of underdeveloped areas be extended for another 20 years. The mover argued that after the passage of forty years, these areas are still much backward. The amendment was proposed to extend the said period for providing more opportunities to the people of less developed areas.
The Committee did not consider the Bill, the National Accountability (Amendment) Bill, 2024 (Ordinance No.VI of 2024) (Government Bill) and deferred the same as requested of the Ministry. The Committee considered the Bill, the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2024 (Article 25) (moved by Dr. Nafisa Shah and deferred the same for comments by the ministry of Human Rights. The Committee also considered the Bills, the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2024 (Article 184) and the Contempt of Court (Repeal) Bill, 2024) moved by Noor Alam Khan and after detailed deliberations, the mover preferred to withdraw the bills, hence the committee recommended that the bills may not be passed by the Assembly.
The committee considered the bills, the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2024 (Article 51, 59 and 106), and the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2024 (Article 177, 193 and 208), moved by Noor Alam Khan. After detailed deliberations, the committee recommended that the bills may not be passed by the Assembly.
Rana Muhammad Qasim Noon, Zahra Wadood Fatemi, Bilal Azhar Kayani, Kiran Haider, Dr. Nafeesa Shah, Syed Abrar Ali Shah, Ali Muhammad Khan, Umair Khan Niazi, Syed Hafeezuddin, Hassaan Sabir, Gohar Ali Khan, Sardar Muhammad Latif Khan Khosa, Aliya Kamran, Noor Alam Khan, Minister for Law and Justice and Secretary Ministry of Law and Justice along with staff attended the meeting.