IN line with the 26th Constitutional Amendment, the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) on Tuesday approved the formation of a seven-member Constitutional Bench in the Supreme Court, the first one in the history of the country. The nomination, approved by a 7-5 majority by the Commission has representation from all the four provinces and two women also form part of the all-important forum. Headed by Justice Amin-ud-Din, the bench will include Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Ayesha A Malik, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Musarrat Hilali and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan.
This marks completion of the process for the formation of a separate Constitutional Bench in the apex court to deal with constitutional cases as envisaged in the 26th Amendment. The very fact that the meeting of the Judicial Commission was participated by all members including two judges who wrote a letter to the Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Yahya Afridi for convening of the full court to hear petitions challenging the adoption of the 26th Amendment as well as nominees of the opposition party – PTI. Hopefully, the formation of the bench will put to rest the tendency of making constitutional and legal moves controversial and interpreting the Constitution as per one’s own wishes and aspirations. There is substance in the argument that if core constitutional matters are taken up by the full court then what was the need to introduce the 26th Amendment which originally envisaged a Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) but the idea was dropped and consensus was reached on the establishment of a separate Constitutional Bench in the Supreme Court.
The Judicial Commission, in its own wisdom, decided to assign tenure of sixty days to the bench and this could complicate proper hearing and disposal of constitutional matters. Already, there is a genuine impression that frequent transfer of judges is one of the major causes of abnormal delay in dispensation of prompt justice and cases linger on for years and sometimes for decades. This aspect needs to be revised. The Judicial Commission discussed the establishment of a dedicated secretariat to support and perform its functions authorizing the Chairman to proceed with its rulemaking and establishment. Things will surely streamline when this task is completed by the Chairman, maybe with input from relevant stakeholders.
