The Process of Judicial Appointments under the Constitution of Pakistan 1973

Abstract

The governmental structure under the Constitution of Pakistan is based on the principle of checks and balances and none of the three organs of the government enjoys primacy over the other organ. The function of the judiciary in such system is essentially important as it maintains and preserves equilibrium between the governmental organ on the touch stone of constitution and laws, apart from performing its traditional function of deciding disputes between parties. The process of appointment of judges for superior judiciary has been the subject of great interest among public including members from the legal fraternity. The Supreme Court has in Al-Jehad trust case gave such an interpretation to the Constitutional provisions that resultantly the power of appointment fall into the hands of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The judiciary getting all powerful in appointments didn’t go well with the legislature and the executive, since they left with no meaningful role in the appointments. The political setup established after the general election gave a new facet to the process of appointment with the objective of balancing the role of executive and judiciary in appointment by adding article 175A in the Constitution. The purpose of the analysis in this paper is to critically evaluate constitutional provisions relating to the process of judicial appointments before the Eighteenth Amendment, and the reasons for altering the process under Eighteenth Amendment in the light of judgments of Supreme Court.