Shahid Khaqan challenges 26th Constitutional Amendment in SHC

KARACHI: Former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Monday challenged the 26th Constitutional Amendment in the Sindh High Court.

In a petition Shahid Khaqan has pleaded to the high court to declare the constitutional amendment as ‘unconstitutional’. He also pleaded to the court to restrain the judicial commission from functioning until the petition being decided.

Petitioner has also pleaded for prohibition on appointments of new judges in high courts.

The federation, government of Sindh, Chairman Senate, Speaker National Assembly, the Election Commission of Pakistan and others have been made respondents in the petition.

The Parliament passed the 26th Amendment between 20-21 October night under which the term for the Chief Justice of Pakistan has been fixed at three years.

A 12-member parliamentary committee will select the new Chief Justice from a panel of the three most senior judges.

The committee, comprising eight members from the National Assembly and four from the Senate, will propose the name to the Prime Minister, who will then forward it to the President for final approval.

Besides, a judicial commission, led by the Chief Justice and including three senior judges, two members each from the National Assembly and Senate, the Federal Minister for Law and Justice, the Attorney General, and a nominee of the Pakistan Bar Council, having not less than fifteen years of practice in the Supreme Court, will be responsible for appointment of the judges of the Supreme Court.