Pakistan’s 26th Constitutional Amendment: Appointment of New Chief Justice and Parliamentary Committee Decision

Islamabad President Asif Ali Zardari signed the Pakistan 26th constitutional amendment, the gazette notification of which was also issued, the 26th constitutional amendment bill 2024 became an Act of Parliament.

After the notification was issued, the 26th constitutional amendment came into effect immediately, while the decision to appoint a new Chief Justice in the country is approaching.

An in-camera meeting of the special committee has been convened today at 4 pm at the Parliament House, in which a decision will be taken regarding the appointment of the new Chief Justice. The current Chief Justice Qazi Faiz Isa will send the names of the three most senior judges to the committee.

At present, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Muneeb Akhtar and Justice Yahya Afridi are the most senior judges of the Supreme Court. The Ministry of Law is likely to send the summary of the three judges of the Supreme Court to this parliamentary committee on Tuesday (today).

Among the four nominated members from the Senate are JUI’s Kamran Murtaza, People’s Party’s Farooq Naik, PML-N’s Azam Nazir Tarar and PTI’s Barrister Ali Zafar. Similarly, 8 members of the National Assembly, including Khawaja Asif, Ahsan Iqbal and Shaista Pervez of PML-N, are included in the special committee.

People’s Party’s Raja Pervez Ashraf, Naveed Qamar, Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Barrister Gohar, Sahibzada Hamid Raza and MQM Pakistan’s Rana Ansar are also part of the special parliamentary committee. Sources say that after the formation of the parliamentary committee, the Ministry of Law A panel of three senior judges will be convened.

The committee will select the Chief Justice of Pakistan from the panel of judges. Earlier, Speaker of National Assembly Ayaz Sadiq had sent letters to Senate Chairman Yusuf Gilani, UN League, People’s Party, MQM and Sunni Etihad Council for the establishment of a special committee.

After receiving the Speaker’s letter, the Senate Chairman also wrote a letter to the parliamentary leaders and asked for their names. The formula for proportional representation of the parliamentary parties in the special committee was also prepared.

According to the formula, a political party will be allotted one seat in the special committee for 39 members of the National Assembly, while one seat will be allotted in the Senate for 21 members. According to the new law, after the 26th constitutional amendment, the Chief Justice will be appointed 3 days earlier. Justices are bound to send 3 names to the Constitution Committee by 22 October 12 midnight.