ISLAMABAD - The upper house of the parliament on Monday passed a bill to block way for appointment of the members of bar councils of the provinces and other territories of the country as judge of Islamabad High Court.

After passage of the bill, only members of Islamabad High Court bar could be appointed as judge of IHC. The Islamabad High Court (Amendment) Bill, 2020 which was moved by Senator Muhammad Javed Abbasi sought omission of the words ‘from the provinces and other territories of Pakistan’ from section 3(1) of the Islamabad High Court Act. The section in its present form before amendment reads, “The Islamabad High Court shall consist of a Chief Justice and six other judges to be appointed from the provinces and other territories of Pakistan, in accordance with the Constitution”. The Senate session began with Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani in the chair.

The House also adopted three resolutions. In the first resolution, the House recommended that the government should take necessary steps to establish separate lockups for juveniles so that they could be kept separate from adult criminals in all police stations in Islamabad Capital Territory. The second resolution urged the government to take necessary measures to promote cultural norms and social values in order to present and promote a soft and positive image of the society and country. The third resolution urged the government to take back the decision of shifting major taxpayers to the Large Tax Unit from Quetta to Karachi and from Peshawar to Islamabad. The resolution was moved by Senator Manzoor Kakar of Balochistan Awami Party (BAP).

The House also passed Provincial Motor Vehicle (Amendment) bill moved by Senator Faisal Javed and Unanimous Ayurvedic and Homeopathic Practitioners’ (Amendment) bill moved by Senator Mahar Taj Roghani.