State Minister for Regulation Aqeel Malik stated on Thursday that the twenty seventh Modification has vested authority to listen to constitutional issues within the Federal Constitutional Court docket (FCC), not the Supreme Court docket (SC).
“Judges have tried to file their petition within the Supreme Court docket, however the court docket is just not the right discussion board for this request,” he stated whereas talking on Geo Information’ programme “Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Saath”.
Malik stated the Supreme Court docket and the FCC had adopted their respective guidelines, including: “The constitutional court docket has been established, and all instances of constitutional nature will now be heard by it.” He questioned why the judges had submitted their plea to the Supreme Court docket within the first place.
In accordance with him, the judges’ petition “ought to have been filed within the constitutional court docket”, as solely the FCC is empowered to listen to it after the modification.
Malik additionally rejected claims about any compromise on judicial independence, stating that the authority for transferring judges — beforehand held by the president — had now been assigned to the Judicial Fee.
“Resigning is the judges’ prerogative,” he stated, including {that a} deceptive impression was being created concerning judicial resignations.
In the meantime, sources stated 4 Islamabad Excessive Court docket judges have determined to problem the twenty seventh Modification within the Supreme Court docket, with a draft of their petition ready and despatched forward. Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Justice Babar Sattar, Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz, and Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan are among the many petitioners, the sources added.
Nonetheless, Supreme Court docket sources confirmed no petition from the judges had but been filed in opposition to the modification. Sources within the Federal Constitutional Court docket additionally stated no such plea had been submitted there both.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)-led ruling coalition handed the twenty seventh Modification earlier this month, which introduced modifications to the judicial construction and navy command.
A serious structural change got here within the type of the FCC, which was established as a brand new judicial discussion board with equal illustration from all provinces. The modification empowered the FCC to train suo motu authority upon petitions.
The judicial overhaul, a part of the most recent amendments, not solely paved the best way for dissolving the Constitutional Benches but in addition, by means of the Supreme Court docket Observe and Process (Modification) Invoice 2025, transferred the authority to represent case-hearing benches to a three-member committee headed by the chief justice.
The modification assigns the president and prime minister key roles in judicial appointments, whereas decreasing sure powers of the Supreme Court docket and shifting a few of its authority to the newly established FCC.
Following the passage of the modification, Supreme Court docket judges Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Athar Minallah resigned from their posts in separate letters to President Asif Ali Zardari.
The jurists had criticised the twenty seventh Modification, describing it as a “grave assault on the Structure of Pakistan”. Nonetheless, the federal authorities referred to as the judges’ resignations “political speeches” and the latter’s allegations “unconstitutional”.
Two days later, LHC decide Shams Mehmood Mirza adopted the jurists’ footsteps and stop from his place “in protest in opposition to the newly-enacted twenty seventh Constitutional Modification.”
