The 27th Constitutional Amendment Bill, signals that there are big changes coming and on Saturday, the standing committees of both houses of parliament on law and justice in a joint session went through 80 percent of it. A second session is planned for today in which the rest of the bill will be debated in the committees. But what is the bill and what does it mean. The Current has simplified the key features of the bill and what it means for you.
THE 27th CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT BILL
The bill, presented in the Senate by the law minister, Azam Nazeer Tarar, suggests creating a Federal Constitutional Court, change how high court judges are appointed, adjusting the size limits for provincial cabinets, and altering the structure of military leadership.
“CHIEF OF DEFENCE FORCES”
You must’ve heard about the changes to Article 243 this week.
Currently, Article 243, states that “The Federal Government shall have control and command of the Armed Forces” and “the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces shall vest in the President”.
THE CHANGES
The position “Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee” (CJCSC) is going to be abolished. This position is currently in seniority to all other military titles, as it is the head of all the wings of the military: Army, Naval, Air. The position currently is not held by anyone who is chief of the other departments.
The bill proposes to introduce a new title, “Chief of Defence Forces” and the Chief of Army Staff will also be the Chief of Defense Forces.
The bill also proposes that honorary titles such as Field Marshal, Marshal of the Air Force, and Admiral of the Fleet awarded to senior military officers in recognition of their services will carry a lifetime status.
Lifetime status means that the Field Marshal shall remain in uniform for life and can only be removed through impeachment. The government will determine the duties of a Field Marshal and he/she will also have legal immunity. The legal immunity will be for life since the position has a lifetime status.
A NEW ‘BIGGER THAN SUPREME COURT’ COURT?
The bill includes the formation of a federal constitutional court (FCC) which will be a court that includes senior judges from all provinces.
The FCC will handle cases of constitutional importance and the Supreme Court (SC) will be handling cases of ordinary civil, criminal and statutory appeals. The first appointees for the FCC will be decided by the president and prime minister and parliament can determine the number of judges serving in the FCC.
THE PROS
According to lawyers and analysts, the pros for the FCC are that it will ‘modernise the judiciary,’ because it will reduce backlogs for the SC, many of which have been pending for years, and will also separate constitutional issues from other issues that will make the judicial system more clear and in turn, efficient.
Law Minister Tarar explained that SC judges spent most of their time listening to other cases, even though constitutional case benches were present in the SC. “The fact of the matter is that five to six per cent of cases take 40pc of the court’s time and the rest of the cases remain as is,” he said.
THE CONS
The selection of the FCC chief justice will be done by the president and the prime minister and he or she will be chosen from the top three senior most judges of the Supreme Court. If the nominee declines, and the other two judges do as well, all three will have to retire from service.
Currently, the Supreme Court works in a ‘seniority cycle’. The senior most judge is made the chief justice and they have to retire at the age of 65. So you know years in advance who the next chief justice will be. With the FCC, the president and prime minister will be selecting the top judge of the top Pakistani court, and parliament will decide who the other judges serving in the FCC will be. The chief justice of the FCC will serve three years or until he turns 68 years old.
OPPOSITION
PTI’s Senator Ali Zafar said that, the proposed 27th Amendment is “nothing short of a conspiracy against the Constitution. The entire process is being carried out in haste, without consultation or deliberation, in complete disregard of democratic norms and parliamentary traditions.”
He also added that the opposition had been given very little time to examine the bill since they had received it yesterday.
WHAT NEXT?
PMLN and PPP are working on gathering the numbers to pass the bill, as JUI-F Maulana Fazalur Rehman is set to meet Bilawal and Zardari. Meanwhile, committees that are finalising the bill are also likely to change the mechanism for the transfer of high court judges — a process which may not require the consent of the judges being transferred.
JUI-F had earlier boycotted the meeting of the joint committees yesterday (which were discussing the bill) and PPP Senator Farooq Naek said that the meeting continued after the JUI-F left and 80 percent of the amendments were discussed.
The committees will meet again today to discuss the ‘chief of defense’ clauses since they have not been examined yet.
You can download the bill here.
