In a significant move, the Senate Special Committee on Law Reforms has sought a detailed briefing from the Ministry of Law and Justice on parliamentary legislation to introduce a constitutional amendment for the impeachment of judges of the superior judiciary by the Parliament.
In the committee's meeting on Friday, the Senate special panel's members stressed on formulating a practical mechanism to ensure the parliamentary impeachment of those judges of the superior judiciary who are found involved in any kind of misconduct.
"This is a crucial issue. A judge has the power to make decisions and issue verdicts on the matters that can have life-changing and far-reaching implications on people, nations and states. An effective system of checks and balances needs to be put in place to take on any judge who misuses his authority or is found involved in any kind of foul play," said committee's Convenor Farook Naek from Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) while presiding over the meeting.
"Before forging any mechanism, it is imperative to first seek the input from the relevant ministry," he said, adding that Secretary Law Khashih-ur-Rehman should brief the committee on the matter in the committee's next meeting.
Other senators including Barrister Javed Abbasi from Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) agreed with him. "The existing mechanism regarding the accountability of the superior judiciary judges is highly flawed. Resultantly, several cases involving the alleged misconduct of the judges are pending. The cases of the misconduct of the judges are dealt with by the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) which comprises judges.
How can a judge hold any other judge accountable? This practice is unacceptable and needs to be changed and the parliamentary impeachment is the best possible solution," he said. 'American model' should be adopted for the impeachment of judges, Abbasi suggested.
Independent Senator Anwar ul Haq Kakar said all the stakeholders should be taken into the loop before taking any decision regarding the judges' impeachment. "This practice is followed worldwide. All the relevant stakeholders are taken onboard before legislation on crucial matters.
In this case, lawyers' fraternity including bar councils and bar associations, media, civil society, and political and public circles should be taken into confidence before going for the legislation regarding impeachment of the judges by the Parliament," he said.
Naek said, "First, secretary law should brief the committee on the issue of judges' impeachment by the Parliament. Then, we can reach out to the stakeholders for their input on the matter.
We can also analyse different models of judges' impeachment that are in effect in different countries of the world like the United States, India, France and other states before introducing a constitutional amendment regarding impeachment of the judges of the superior judiciary by the Parliament."
Discussing the Land Acquisition Act 1894, the committee expressed its serious concern on the Section 4 of the said act that deals with land acquisition. The committee's convenor said the land acquisition under Section 4 should not be done on the rates fixed by the relevant deputy commissioner. Instead, he said, the land acquisition should be done on market rates.
The committee members said the general public is immensely suffering due to serious loopholes in the Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act 1894. Deputy Collector Waseem Khan briefed the committee on the matter. The committee sought suggestions from the Interior Ministry on facilitating the general public by removing serious flaws in the Land Acquisition Act 1894.
Taking up discussion on the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2010, the committee sought briefing from Chairman NAB (National Accountability Bureau) Justice Javed Iqbal (retd) and Director General Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Wajid Zia on the application of the Act in different cases involving financial crime.
"It needs to be seen what the context is and what the cases are that involve the implementation of Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2010, and what the powers of NAB and FIA are in this regard." The committee members said it should also be reviewed comprehensively why Pakistan has been on the grey list of Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and what the reasons are which led to this situation.
Senator Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif, Joint Secretary Interior Ministry Dr Mirza Ali Mahsud and Deputy Draftsman Abid Ali also attended the meeting.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2019
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