The National Assembly on Friday passed the Islamabad High Court (Amendment) Bill, 2019, in which the numbers of judges were increased from seven to ten, including chief justice.
Soon after the session started, a rumpus was erupted in National Assembly when Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari exchanged some harsh words over Murad Saeed’s speech, but Speaker Asad Qaisar intervened to calm down the situation.
Parliamentary Secretary on Law and Justice Maleeka Ali Bukhari moved the bill and said it was aimed at increasing the strength of judges in the Islamabad High Court. She said there was a need to increase the strength of judges in order to ensure early disposal of cases. When the bill was taken up by the standing committee in its two meetings, opposition members opposed the move, saying that the reason given by the government for increasing the number of judges was “insufficient”.
The bill is aimed at increasing the number of IHC judges from seven to ten, including chief justice
Former premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi suggested that judges should be required to submit their tax details annually. He also asked the speaker why the government was in a hurry to pass the bill. “There was a need to increase the number of judges in other four high courts of the country, but the government only increased the judges’ strength at the IHC and neglected the other provinces,” he said.
Strongly reacting over the bill, Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) leader Naveed Qamar stressed on the importance of specifying a province-wise quota system for employing judges from each province to ensure equality. He said that there were high backlogs in the LHC and the SHC but the number of judges was not increased there. He also questioned the transparency in the process of judges’ appointment.
Another PPP leader Dr Nafeesa Shah said proper information on the amendment bill was not provided.
The government, however, dismissed the opposition’s recommendations and proceeded to pass the bill.
The National Assembly also adopted a motion for establishment of standing committees of the House. The motion authorised the speaker to include any member and make changes to the composition of the committees. Earlier, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan presented “The Elections (Amendment) Ordinance 2019”.
The ordinance is aimed at delimitation of general seats of newly allocated Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for erstwhile FATA. Ali Muhammad Khan presented the Ordinance, which sought an amendment to Section 20 of the Election Act, 2017. It asked for inserting new sub-section after sub-section (2) in section 20.
Published in Daily Times, January 26th 2019.
