Web Desk; : The government has decided to establish a Constitutional Court under the proposed 27th Constitutional Amendment, initially comprising seven judges, in what officials describe as a major step toward judicial reform, a news report by Ansar Abbasi in The News states.
Quoting informed sources, the report says, “The idea of setting up a Constitutional Court was originally part of the Charter of Democracy (CoD) signed between the Pakistan Peoples Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz in 2006.”
“The proposal has now been revived as part of the broader constitutional reform package under discussion between coalition partners,” the sources added. As per the proposed plan, the retirement age of judges of the Constitutional Court will be 68 years, three years higher than Supreme Court judges, who currently retire at 65. Justice Aminuddin Khan is likely to be appointed as the first Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court, the report states.
Officials said, “The court will not be housed in the Supreme Court building; instead, two options are under consideration.
One is the current Islamabad High Court (IHC) building, with the IHC moving back to its old Sector G-10 premises. The other, reportedly more likely, is the Federal Shariat Court (FSC) building, where the Federal Service Tribunal would be relocated to one floor.”
Sources noted, “Among the seven initial judges, five are likely to be selected from the current Supreme Court constitutional bench, while some high court judges — particularly from Balochistan and Sindh High Courts — are also being considered for elevation.”
“The proposed Constitutional Court would deal exclusively with constitutional matters, reducing the Supreme Court’s workload and ensuring faster adjudication of constitutional disputes — an idea long envisioned in the CoD but never implemented until now,” the officials added.
