26th amendment challenged in SC, requested to be declared invalid

Islamabad: The 26th Constitutional Amendment, which was passed into law recently by the National Assembly and the Senate, has been challenged in the Supreme Court of Pakistan, where the petition has sought to invalidate the amendment.

According to the details, a citizen named Muhammad Anas filed a petition through lawyer Adnan Khan and requested the Supreme Court to declare the 26th constitutional amendment null and void.

In the petition against the 26th constitutional amendment, it has been said that the Parliament has no power to make suggestions on judicial matters, making the Federation a party.

In the petition, he requested to declare the 26th constitutional amendment null and void.

Background

It is pertinent to note that since last month, the ruling coalition has been busy lobbying political parties in parliament to gain support for constitutional amendments that focus on the judiciary.

Meanwhile, the opposition parties, especially Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman, continued to be persuaded in the consultation that lasted for several days and the government could not get the amendments approved by the House despite its efforts.

A major cause of conflict was a proposed federal constitutional court, which was opposed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Maulana called for a constitution bench instead, which was later included in the draft.

Decisive progress in this regard took place last week when Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was able to convince Maulana who convinced the PTI regarding the amendments.

After the 26th constitutional amendment package was finally approved by the cabinet on Sunday, and Senate and then the National Assembly by a two-thirds majority.

The Prime Minister forwarded the amendments to the President for assent, who yesterday signed the Gazette of the 26th Constitutional Amendment into law.

The most important among these amendments is the change in the procedure of appointment of the Chief Justice, where earlier the most senior judge of the Supreme Court used to hold the post of Chief Justice, but now it has been changed.

Under the new procedure, the Chief Justice will be appointed from among the three most senior judges of the Supreme Court and a 12-member committee consisting of government and opposition members of the National Assembly and the Senate will take the final decision and send the name to the Prime Minister.

In this regard, the amendments have included provisions regarding the establishment of constitutional benches as well as the evaluation of the performance and fitness of the judges.