President Asif Ali Zardari administers the oath of office to Justice Aminuddin Khan as Chief Justice of the Federal Constitutional Court during a ceremony at Aiwan-i-Sadr on Friday. Photo: APP
ISLAMABAD:
A debate has flared over the work of the country’s two Supreme Courts and their impact on litigation – the supposed center of the legal system – as the creation of the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) has reshuffled caseloads and raised questions about where justice now stands and how smoothly it moves.
Official figures show that per On November 13, a total of 56,608 cases were pending at the Supreme Court, of which 22,910 cases were transferred to the newly created FCC. As a result, the number of cases pending before the Supreme Court stood at 33,796 on 22 December.
At present, 18 judges, including the Chief Justice of Pakistan, perform judicial functions in the SC, against a sanctioned strength of 34 judges.
A senior official said that while there was no proposal under consideration to reduce the sanctioned strength of SC judges, there was a need to revise the overall requirement for judges of the apex court after the creation of the FCC.
On the other hand, seven judges, including the Chief Justice, currently serve on the FCC, where nearly 23,000 cases are pending.
It is expected that more judges will be appointed to the FCC after the winter break. The total number of judges on the FCC currently stands at 13, which can be further increased through a presidential order. The FCC is also likely to resume operations in new premises next month.
Legal experts say judicial appointments are at the heart of any meaningful reform, but there is a growing perception that the government has stacked the FCC with like-minded judges whose rulings and constitutional interpretations bind all courts, including the SC.
Even the superior bars, despite their opposition to the 27th Amendment, are said to be wary of taking the challenge to the FCC itself, a reluctance that speaks volumes for the trust deficit surrounding the new forum.
Lawyer Umer Gilani notes that in the run-up to the 27th Amendment, the government often put forward the view that the creation of the FCC would help clear the massive backlog of top-level cases.
“With the greatest humility, I find myself unable to subscribe to this view. In my opinion, lawsuits and lawyers only respond to incentives. If there are no obstacles to filing a false or frivolous case, as is the case at present, the wave of lawsuits simply cannot be contained”, says Gilani.
He further said that “all other factors remaining the same, the greater the number of judges, the greater the backlog. This view is contrary to popular opinion, but it is based on a scientific study of the situation. Therefore, I suspect that the FCC will soon have a backlog similar to the previous SCP, if not greater,” says Gilani.
Another lawyer believes that the purpose behind the creation of FCC is not limited to judicial reforms but also to target Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), especially Imran Khan.
He stated that the government should have considered nominating judges to the FCC who had demonstrably developed constitutional jurisprudence.
So far, FCC judges have decided more than 400 cases since the court’s creation. Three reported judgments have been uploaded to the FCC’s official website.
