LAHORE: Leading constitutional experts, lawyers and social activists have unanimously sought reining in the apex court in particular and the others in general for allegedly exercising their powers in an authoritarian way and announcing verdicts on the basis of ‘liking or disliking’.

They demanded formation of a dedicated constitutional court also to interpret the constitution.

“As we were drafting the 18th Amendment, the need of a separate constitutional court emerged. But we decided not to go for it due to various reasons, including the lack of two-thirds majority in the parliament and provision of the required structure that was already with the apex and federal Shariat courts. Later, we recommended formation of a separate bench at the apex court to deal with the cases related to constitution,” Senator Raza Rabbani said while speaking at an Asma Jahangir Conference session titled “The need for constitutional courts.”

Moderated by Saroop Ijaz, the session was also addressed by Rashid A. Rizvi, the former judge of the Sindh High Court, Antonio-Martin Parros Gomez of the University of Barcelona and Dr Sadaf Aziz of the Lahore University Management Sciences (LUMS).

Seek formation of a dedicated constitutional court

Mr Rabbani said the Constitution had all solutions to deal with various disputes among the provincial and federal governments. He quoted the Article 152 that was related to the land acquisition and appointment of independent arbitrator in case of unresolved issues and added that under articles 153 and 154, issues could be resolved at the Council of Common Interests (CCI) before being taken to the parliament.

Elaborating jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, Mr Rabbani threw light on the nexus of certain quarters dominated by the establishment that picked the stakeholders of their choice to run the country since 1947 to give legal cover to unconstitutional steps (abrogation of the constitution).

Rashid A Rizvi said, “I agree with you that the judiciary has become too powerful after the 2007 lawyers’ movement. I also think that the judiciary has gone beyond its limits or control and it is giving decisions on the basis of ‘liking and disliking’.

He pointed out that the apex court had forgotten the differences among the suo motu, urgent, old and regular cases.

“The judges conduct has become authoritarian,” Mr Rizvi lamented. He said the 18th Amendment should have provisions to contain the apex court. “If we don’t rein in the apex court now, there would be too many troubles,” the former judge said.

Dr Sadaf Aziz shared her views on the formation of the proposed constitutional court. Prof Antonio elaborated the impact of judicial activism and exercise of authority by the judiciary, saying that the constitutional court could be helpful to control judicial activism.

Published in Dawn, October 23th, 2022