ISLAMABAD, Jan 5: Seniority has never been the only consideration in the appointment of chief justice of the Supreme Court and the president is vested with the authority to make the appointment, says Attorney-General Sardar Mohammad Latif Khan Khosa.

“Seniority has never been the only criterion in the appointment of the chief justice, although it is an important consideration … in such appointments,” the attorney-general said before attending the rolls signing ceremony of advocates of the Supreme Court.

According to Article 177 of the Constitution, the Chief Justice of Pakistan “shall be appointed by the president and each of the other judges shall be appointed by the president after consultation with the chief justice”.

Mr Khosa, however, said that in such appointments, the government had to give reasons for not making the appointment from amongst the senior-most judges, which could be challenged in courts.The attorney general distanced himself from a recent statement by Law Minister Farooq H. Naek that Justice Sardar Raza Mohammad Khan, being the senior-most judge, should be the next chief justice after the retirement of Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar on March 21.

“What the law minister has said is the government’s point of view, which in normal circumstances should be the practice,” Mr Khosa said.

When asked if the government was considering to appoint the next chief justice by breaching the convention settled in the judges’ case, he said he did not know if there was going to be any deviation or departure from rules.

About the deposed chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, the attorney-general said the government had already offered to settle the issue through dialogue.

Mr Khosa said that for all practical purposes, the National Reconciliation Ordinance of 2007 had become “infructuous and all cases decided by courts under the ordinance have become … closed transactions”.

The NRO was promulgated by former president Pervez Musharraf to give amnesty to holders of various public offices who had been charged in various corruption cases between 1986 and 1999.

Referring to the National Accountability Bureau Ordinance, he said it would be repealed and would be substituted by the Presidential Order 16 and 17 of 1970 to try public office holders facing corruption charges by a court to be manned by sitting or retired judges of superior courts.

Mr Musharraf had given constitutional protection to the law by placing it under Schedule 6 of the Constitution, but President Asif Ali Zardari has given the go-ahead for bringing the ordinance before parliament for annulment.

The attorney-general said that the Charter of Democracy signed by the slain PPP chairperson, Benazir Bhutto, and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif had also suggested repeal of the law and “all political parties agreed that the law had been used for political victimisation and, therefore, should be done away with”.

Asked if the government was waiting to attain majority after the Senate elections before moving a constitutional amendment package, Mr Khosa said the PPP government would not get a two-thirds majority even after the March Senate elections.