Federal Cabinet okays amendments to 48 articles of Constitution

The Federal Cabinet on Saturday approved the draft of the proposed 27th Constitutional Amendment after thoroughly considering the PPP recommendations, under which changes have been suggested in 48 articles of the Constitution, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

The meeting of the federal cabinet was held at PM House in Islamabad during which the members were briefed about draft of the 27th Constitutional Amendment.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif chaired the meeting from Baku via a video link. He thanked the leadership of coalition partners and appreciated cabinet members.

Speaking at cabinet meeting, the Prime Minister also appreciated Ministry of Law and Justice, the Attorney General and his team and said that all stakeholders made efforts for the 27th amendment to strengthen relationship between federation and provinces.

He also thanked leadership of coalition parties including Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Abdul Aleem Khan, Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Chaudhry Salik Hussain, Khalid Hussain Magsi who endorsed the draft.

Talking to media men after cabinet meeting, Federal Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar said the federal cabinet had approved the draft of the 27th Constitutional Amendment. The minister said that now the bill would be tabled in Senate.

He further said that it was the government’s desire that different clauses of the bill were discussed in detail.

He said that there was no mention of some posts in the constitution of 1973. “A proposal has been made in the amendment to introduce changes to Article 243 to include the honorary posts of field marshal, naval and air chief in the constitution.”

He said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had held consultations with allied parties. “Consensus has been reached on setting up a constitutional court in the country,” he informed.

He said that there was a proposal to task the judicial commission with transferring judges. “The bill will be sent to the standing committee on law and justice,” Tarar said, adding that the committee would then hold consultations with all political parties.

He said that the election of the chairman and deputy chairman Senate after every three years was a constitutional requirement.

“There is a proposal to increase the representation of provinces in the Upper House of the parliament from 11 per cent to 13 per cent,” the minister informed.

Tarar said that all amendments would become part of the constitution after having been passed by a two-third majority.

He went on to say that there was a proposal in the bill to increase the number of non-elected advisers from five to seven.

“This bill will be presented in the Senate of Pakistan, and then the desire to refer it to a joint committee was expressed so that members of the Senate and National Assembly law and justice committees can discuss the bill in detail,” he said.

The minister said that in recent days, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had held meetings with the government’s allies. “After detailed consultation, the points on which consensus has been reached concern the old promise in the Charter of Democracy regarding the formation of a constitutional court,” he said.

“Now, the suggestion of a separate federal constitutional court will be referred to Parliament in the form of a bill, and Parliament will decide on it after a debate,” he said.

Nazeer Tarar also noted that there had been much debate about the transfer of judges. “It has been proposed in the bill that the transfer of judges be handled by the Judicial Commission of Pakistan … It has been added in the bill that the chief justices of high courts from where a judge is posted and where he wishes to transfer to will be included in the consultations,” the minister elaborated.

He further said that in the past, the Senate election process in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had been affected due to court proceedings and certain decisions made by the provincial assembly. He noted that the term for the upper house of Parliament was six years, adding it could not be dissolved, as compared to the National Assembly.

“After every three years, there is a constitutional need for the election of the Senate chairman, deputy chairman. To solve this issue, there is a need to make appropriate amendments in that specific article to clarify that members of the Senate elected this time or who will be elected in the future — whose six-year term has somehow been wasted — they will be considered as being members so that elections can be held across the country at one time.”

Tarar said that smaller provinces, like KP and Balochistan, had demanded that their provincial cabinet threshold of 11 percent be increased so that their departments were not left “incomplete”.

The Constitution allows the provinces to have cabinets not exceeding 15 ministers or 11pc of the total membership of their respective provincial assembly, whichever of the two is higher.

“So on their suggestion, it has been proposed to make it 13pc from 11pc,” he said. He further said that provinces were only allowed five advisers, but it had been suggested to change it to seven advisers.

Talking about Article 243, which provides that the federal government “shall have control and command of the armed forces”, the minister said that there had always been a great debate on strategic and defence subjects in this region.

“The recent Pakistan-India war has also taught us a lot of lessons, and we have found out that the contours of war have changed.”

“So regarding this, appointments and their processes, which were in the Army Act but could not be discussed at the time of the 1973 constitution, one of which is the role of the field marshal … it has been deemed necessary to discuss this,” he said.

“And it has been suggested that the awards you give to national heroes, this is also a ceremonial title alongside being a rank, so it has been suggested that this should remain with them for lifetime. As far as their command is concerned, it will continue to be regulated as per the law, and the appropriate amendments on this will be presented before Parliament,” he said.

“There is a recommendation to give honorary, ceremonial titles to national heroes,” the minister said, adding that the matters related to the military command would be regulated as per law.

The law minister highlighted that constitutional amendments could be passed if they were accepted by a two-thirds majority. 

He further said that at the time of the 26th Constitutional Amendment, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) had contacted the prime minister and the PML-N seeking changes to Article 104A.

“They had introduced a bill in Senate, which was referred to a committee and on the directives of the premier, I, as the law minister, also gave a note in its support,“ he said.

“As that bill is already pending, the cabinet has also directed me today that when today’s bill is referred to the committee after being presented in the Senate, the committee should also mull over it,” he said.

He said that the government would try to convince its allied partners to develop consensus on this bill so that it could be passed, adding a recent resolution by the Punjab Assembly regarding local governments would also be discussed.

He further said that leaders of the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), in their meeting with the premier, had invited his attention to a bill pertaining only to an increase in the seats for the Balochistan Assembly.

“So both these bills, which are already pending before the law and justice standing committee, will be debated,” he said.

As per amendments suggested in Article 243, the ranks, privileges and uniforms of the field marshal, marshal of the air force and admiral of fleet would be lifelong.

As per another proposal, the president would appoint chief of the army staff on the advice of the prime minister.

The army chief would also be the chief of defence forces, reads a proposed amendment.

Similarly, there is a suggestion to abolish the post of the chairman joint chiefs of staff committee from November 27, while the prime minister, on the recommendation of the army chief, would appoint the chief of the national strategic command.

Similarly, there is a proposal to set up a federal constitutional court, which will interpret the constitution besides settling the constitutional matters.

All constitutional powers have been snatched from the Supreme Court and have been given to the constitutional court instead, in which there will be an equal representation of four provinces, while the term of its chief justice will be for three years.

The decisions given by the constitutional court will be binding on all courts in the country.

Likewise, Article 184 will be abolished and the power to take suo moto notice will also be taken away.

The draft further states that the apex court will now only hear appeals and cases of general nature.

The procedure for the appointment of judges will also be changed under the amendment.

Chief justices of both the constitutional court as well as the apex court besides senior judges of these courts will be included in the Judicial Commission, while the president and the prime minister have been given a key role in the appointment of judges.

The draft further states that articles 42, 63 will give the parliament the right to determine the number of judges of the constitutional court, which will comprise seven judges.

Furthermore, the bill if passed will be applicable immediately.

Amendment to NFC Award deferred

Federal Minister for Food Security and Research Rana Tanveer Hussain on Saturday claimed that the proposed 27th Constitutional Amendment will be passed by the parliament by next week, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Talking to newsmen in Islamabad on Saturday, the minister said that the government has decided to defer the amendment in the National Finance Commission Award for the time being.

Rana Tanveer Hussain said that after the recent war with India, it became necessary for Pakistan to establish a Central Command for Warfare.

Reporters: Awais Kiyani and Usman Khan