New CJP's notification to be issued by Oct 24: law minister

ISLAMABAD: Responding to queries related to appointment of new chief justice of Pakistan (CJP), Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said on Saturday that his ministry has a cut-off date of October 25 for issuing the notification of the appointment of new top judge.

"The notification will be issued InshaAllah," said Tarar speaking to journalists in Islamabad today, adding that the notification for the new CJP can be issued one or two days ahead of the retirement of the incumbent top judge Justice Qazi Faez Isa.

“Government will issue the notification on October 24 for the venue of oath-taking ceremony [for new CJP],” he said.

He added that notification of new CJP is issued one or two days before the retirement of the incumbent in line with the tradition.

Detailing reason behind early notification of Justice Isa as the chief justice, the law minister said that it was issued early in view of the formation of the caretaker government.

It is noteworthy to mention here the major opposition party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), had demanded the federal government for naming the next CJP at the earliest, alleging that the government was planning to extend Justice Isa’s tenure via its judiciary-centric constitutional amendment which the party strongly opposed.

The Imran Khan-founded party had announced backing Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, who is next in line to become the chief justice, as the next top judge of the country.

Tarar, commenting on progress on proposed constitutional amendment, said that the contentious legislation could be passed after before or after October 25 — the day of CJP Isa's retirement.

“We have formed a sub-committee of legal experts to give recommendations to the parliamentary committee […] discussions are underway on four to five items [of the draft amendment],” he added.

His statement came after a sitting of the special parliamentary committee — a body led by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) MNA Syed Khursheed Shah having representation of all parties — formed to discuss the contentious constitutional amendment and evolve a consensus.

The proposed amendments, also called constitutional or judicial package, among other things, aims to set up a federal constitutional court and fix the tenure of the CJP for three years.

The government had attempted to present the bill to amend the Constitution last month, but its allies as well as members from the opposition benches vehemently opposed the proposal, forcing the administration to begin a consultation process.

However, a progress was witnessed in the ongoing consultation process on the 56-point draft as the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, a day ago, showed a willingness to support the government’s "constitutional package" with “ifs and buts”.

After today's meeting the Fazl-led party has refused to back the government's proposal to form separate court to hear constitutional matters, instead proposing to form constitutional bench for such cases.

To pass the constitutional amendments, the government needs two-thirds majority in parliament, while it is short of 13 votes in the National Assembly (NA) and nine in the Senate.