Islamabad - The 26th constitutional amendment was approved in the Senate by a two-thirds majority and all 22 clauses included in the amendment were approved separately.
Federal Law Minister Prime Minister Nazir Tarar presented the 26th constitutional amendment in the upper house and then moved for voting for approval, which was approved by a two-thirds majority of the house, 65 members voted in favor of the amendment, the government coalition. K-58, 5 from Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam and two senators from Balochistan National Party (BNP) Mengal voted for Haq.
Members of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Majlis-e-Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) did not participate in the voting process and walked out of the hall into the lobbies.
Clause-by-clause approval of the constitutional amendment
The chairman senate ordered to close all the doors of the house and started the process of approving the amendment clause by clause. Two-thirds majority of 65 members voted in favor of the first amendment, while 4 members voted against it. Murtaza also moved the amendments and Prime Minister Nazir Tarar seconded it and it was approved by a majority vote.
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam proposed an amendment to paragraph F of Article 38 of the Constitution, which stated that the usury system would be abolished as soon as possible. With the support of the government, the House approved the amendment to Article 38. Voted in favor while there was no vote against
The amendment in Article 48 was presented to the Senate for approval that no institution, tribunal or authority can act on any advice sent by the Prime Minister and the Cabinet to the President. The Senate approved the proposed amendment in Article 48 by majority vote. .
The Senate approved the amendment of Article 81 of the Constitution, the Judicial Commission of Pakistan and the Supreme Judicial Council have been included through the amendment in Article 81.
Amendments passed in Article 175A relating to Judiciary
In the Senate, the amendment in Article 175 A related to the judiciary has been approved by a two-thirds majority in the Senate, under which a commission will be established for the appointment of Supreme Court and High Court judges. will consist of and the Chief Justice of Pakistan will be the head of the Commission.
The commission will include four senior judges of the Supreme Court, Federal Law Minister, Attorney General and Senior Advocate Pakistan Bar Council, members of the Assembly and members of the Senate who will be taken from the government and the opposition respectively and nominated by the Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly and Senate. will
According to the amendment, a special parliamentary committee consisting of 12 members will be formed under clause 3A of Article 175A, eight members will be taken from the National Assembly and four members from the Senate in the special parliamentary committee. All members will be from the Senate.
All political parties will have proportional representation in the Special Parliamentary Committee, the Parliamentary Leader will be authorized to give members to the Speaker and Chairman of the Senate for the Special Parliamentary Committee, the Speaker will issue notification of the Special Parliamentary Committee of the National Assembly.
The Chief Justice will be bound to provide the seniority list 14 days before retirement, the Chief Justice of Pakistan will send the names of the most senior judges to the Special Parliamentary Committee, the Parliamentary Committee will select one of the three names and send it to the Prime Minister. Names will be sent to the President for the appointment of Justices.
According to the amendment approved by the Senate, the parliamentary committee will consider the name of the next senior judge on the rejection of the nominated judges in the seniority list. The parliamentary committee will review the nominations until the Chief Justice is appointed.
After the approval of the 26th constitutional amendment, the Chief Justice will be obliged to submit his name to the parliamentary committee three days before his retirement and a special parliamentary session will be held in-camera for the appointment of the Chief Justice. Article 68 shall not apply to the proceedings of the Special Parliamentary Committee on the appointment of the Chief Justice.
The amendment said that the Supreme Judicial Commission will have the authority to review the performance of the judges of the High Court on an annual basis. If the judge's performance is again unsatisfactory within the given time frame, the report will be sent to the Supreme Judicial Council.
According to the amendment, the Supreme Judicial Council will look into the unsatisfactory performance of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the Chief Justice of the High Courts or the judges in the Commission. He shall inquire into the report of the Commission or on the request of the President in case of disability, misbehavior and malfeasance.
Under the constitutional amendment, the Supreme Judicial Council will be prohibited from completing the inquiry related to the judges within 6 months without delay. There will be an option.
The President of the country will have the authority to remove any judge of the Supreme Court or the High Court from office on the report of the Judicial Council. But the 15-day intra-commission meeting will be bound to be called.
Under the amendment of Article 177 approved by the Senate, no person with dual citizenship will be able to become a judge of the Supreme Court. Under the amendment of Article 177, the limit of working as a judge in the High Court for 5 years has been set to become a judge of the Supreme Court. Yes, any lawyer must have 15 years of practice as a lawyer to become a Supreme Court judge.
The amendment in Article 179 of the Constitution has also been approved by a two-thirds majority, under which the appointment of the Chief Justice of Pakistan will be for three years and the Chief Justice of Pakistan will retire at the age of 65.
The Senate also approved the amendment in Article 184, under which the Supreme Court's power of automatic notification has been abolished and the Supreme Court shall not give any decision or direction beyond the contents or powers of the petition filed under Article 184.
An amendment to Article 186A was also passed in the Senate, increasing the fee for filing an appeal in the Supreme Court against the High Court decision from Rs 50,000 to Rs 10 lakh.
No order shall be passed except in pursuance of the jurisdiction vested and exercised by the Supreme Court under the amendment to Article 187 of the Constitution passed by the Senate.
A new provision for the formation of a constitutional bench was included in the Supreme Court
An amendment to add Article 191A to the Constitution has been presented in the Senate for approval, which was approved by a two-thirds majority, the formation of constitutional benches under Article 191 will be implemented, the formation of more than one constitutional bench in the Supreme Court. can be done and the Supreme Judicial Council will determine the judges of the Constitution Benches and their tenure.
The Judges of all the Provinces shall be equally represented in the Constitution Benches. No order under this clause shall be passed except in pursuance of any jurisdiction vested in and exercised by the Supreme Court. Will not use.
The Constitution Bench shall consist of not less than five judges, three senior judges of the Supreme Judicial Council shall constitute the Constitution Benches, all pending and pending constitutional cases, revisions and appeals shall be transferred to the Constitution Benches.
An amendment to Article 193 of the Constitution was presented to the Senate for approval, under which no person with dual citizenship can become a judge of the High Court. Will be.
An amendment to Article 199A of the Constitution was approved by the Senate, under which the High Court shall have no authority to make any order or direction outside the contents of the petition filed.
The Senate presented the amendment in Article 209 of the Constitution for approval in the Senate, the Supreme Judicial Council will be established under Article 209, the Supreme Judicial Council will consist of 5 members, the Chief Justice of Pakistan will be the head of the Supreme Judicial Council. , two senior judges of the Supreme Court and two senior judges of the High Courts will be part of the Council.
An amendment to Article 215 was presented to the Senate for approval, under which the Chief Election Commissioner and members will be eligible to continue working until the appointment of new commissioners and members on completion of their term, and this amendment was also approved by majority vote. went
The Senate also approved the amendment in Article 255 of the Constitution, under this amendment, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and the Chief Justice of the High Court at the provincial level will be authorized to administer the oath if it is impracticable to take an oath in front of a person.
The 26th constitutional amendment was approved in the Senate as soon as the amendment to Article 255 was approved, clause wise, 65 members voted in favor of the amendment. It was directed to close the doors of the lobby.
After the approval of the 26th constitutional amendment by Chairman Senate Yousaf Raza Gilani announced the division of lobbies and appointed the right-hand lobby for the members in favor of the constitutional amendment and the left-hand lobby for the opposition, outside the lobby. Register and Senate staff were present for the signing and members entered the lobby after signing the Senate Register.
The chairman of the Senate announced the results of the voting and said that 65 members voted in favor of the bill and 4 votes against it, so the number of votes in favor is not less than two-thirds of the total number of the Senate, as a result of which I have approved these amendments.
Chairman Senate Yusuf Razagilani said that he congratulates the National Assembly and the Senate for passing the 26th constitutional amendments and with that the meeting of the Senate was adjourned till 4 pm on Tuesday.
Senate meeting for constitutional amendment
Earlier, the Senate session under the chairmanship of Chairman Senate Yousaf Raza Gilani started with the recitation of Holy Quran. .
Prime Minister Nazir Tarar said in his address that a committee was formed on the direction of the Speaker on the constitutional amendment bill and it has been carefully reviewed in this committee, this bill has been given in the supplementary agenda so it should be taken up.
Azam Nazir Tarar moved the motion to introduce the 26th constitutional amendment in the House, which was unanimously approved, after which he said that the procedure for the appointment of judges was presented in the eighteenth constitutional amendment, the Supreme Judiciary. Procedures were introduced to make the appointment of judges transparent and a parliamentary committee was formed on it
He said that the Parliamentary Committee was empowered to block any nomination, a petition was filed in the Supreme Court in this regard and the Nineteenth Amendment was hastily amended and the said composition was changed in this commission. During the composition, members were inclined towards an organization.
The Law Minister said that the bar councils expressed concerns over the procedure of the judges of the Supreme Court and, as demanded by the Supreme Court Bar, it was suggested that Article 175/3 of the Constitution be amended.
Azam Nazir Tarar said that the Judicial Commission will be headed by the judges of the Supreme Court, four members will be taken from the Parliament for the commission, as suggested in the composition of the Judicial Commission, along with the Chief Justice, the judges of the Constitutional Court will also be its members. will be
The Federal Law Minister said that the Judicial Commission will have the authority to form constitutional benches, the Chief Justice and four senior judges of the Supreme Court will be in the Judicial Commission, the Members of Parliament will also be included in the Judicial Commission.
He said that these amendments are to create a broad consensus in the Eighteenth Amendment, the Cabinet has decided to vote on the amendments of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam.
He said that the Speaker will also suggest a representative of non-Muslims to the National Assembly.
At the request of JUI's Maulana Atta-ur-Rehman, a prayer break was also held in the Senate session and after the prayer break, the Law Minister presented more points for constitutional amendment.
Azam Nazir Tarar said that the appointment of constitutional benches will also be done by this judicial commission. happened
It was propagated that it was being done to keep the current Chief Justice although the reality was the opposite and Chief Justice Qazi Faiz Isa had banned me from an official meeting and said that whatever constitutional amendment is implemented will be after me. .
He said that a Chief Justice opened the doors of Sumoto, our Supreme Court sent home the elected Prime Ministers of millions of Pakistanis, Quaid Muslim League (N) also fell victim to it and Chairman Senate AAP also fell victim to it.
Azam Nazir Tarar said that there is a constitutional procedure for removing the Prime Minister and we have adopted this method, on which PTI Senator Ali Zafar also said that we have no objection if constitutional benches are formed and now constitutional benches is being formed.
He said that the appointment of the Chief Justice and his term of office will be for three years, one of the three senior most judges will be appointed, the term of the Chief Justice will be three years and one of the three senior judges on the seniority list. will be selected
He said that the appointment of the Chief Justice will be done by a 12-member special parliamentary committee, the parliamentary committee will agree on the name of the Chief Justice with a two-thirds majority, the appointment of the Chief Justice of Pakistan will also be among the three most senior judges instead of the most senior. The Prime Minister has given his authority to appoint the Chief Justice.
He said that the Prime Minister will send the name of the committee which will decide by majority, the name of the parliamentary committee will be sent to the President on behalf of the Prime Minister.
The Law Minister said that Article 9A has been included in the Constitution, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam has given 5 amendments and Kamran Murtaza will present them in the House, Article 9A has been added for environmental protection, every person should have access to clean water. There will be a right to live in Wahua.
He said that the appointment of the judges of Islamabad High Court will also be done by the Judicial Commission. He has given five suggestions regarding Islamic Ideological Council Riba. After discussion, they have agreed.
He said that this work has been done to provide quick and cheap justice to the common man in Pakistan, the Prime Minister has left some of his powers.
