Islamabad:
The Supreme Court rebuked the government of its weak progress on Friday.
A constitutional bench of five members led by Justice Aminuddin Khan heard a petition about the delay in the establishment of climate change authority, where the court raised concerns about the long -term delay in appointing the President of the Authority and the questionable selection of its members.
The bench included Justice Jamal Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi and Justice Shahid Bilal Hasan.
“The government should move at the speed of a cheetah, but it searches like a turtle,” justice Jamal Mandokhail observed.
During the consultation, the extra legal lawyer (AAG) informed the court that the government had issued a third advertisement for the President’s submission.
“Why did the first two advertisements fail?” Justice Mandokhail questioned.
AAG explained that among the three candidates on shortlisted, it turned out that the top ranked nominee had dual nationality, which disqualified him according to government policy.
“If you are looking for an unusually high standard candidate, some compromises need to be made,” Justice Mandokhail noted and shifts focus to the authority’s provincial operations. “The real problem is at the provincial level. How does this authority work there?”
AAG replied that provincial members have already been appointed.
However, Justice Aminuddin pointed out that Faisal Amin, a member of the climate change authority from KP, is the brother of the provincial chief minister.
Meanwhile, Balochistan’s representative is a university rector without expertise in climate problems, and bureaucrats have been appointed from Punjab and Sindh.
Justice Mandokhail criticized the elections and said, “I know Balochistan’s representative in person. He has no expertise in this area”.
