- Petitioner seeks apex court to declare section 7,9,10,12,13,14, as well as section 16,17 and 21 of amendment as unconstitutional
- ISLAMABAD: The Lahore High Court Bar (LHCB) on Saturday filed a petition in Supreme Court, challenging various clauses of the 26th Constitutional Amendment to be declared as unconstitutional.
In the petition, filed of senior lawyer Hamid Khan, the LHCBA seeks the apex court to declare various clauses of the 26th Amendment as unlawful and unconstitutional.
The petitioner pleads with the court to declare section 7,9,10,12,13,14, as well as section 16,17 and 21 as unconstitutional.
The petitioner also requested the court to declare the steps taken under various sections of the said constitutional amendment as unconstitutional.
The LHCBA also requested the top court that the judicial commission and other steps should be restrained from taking any action until a final verdict on the petition.
The federation, judicial commission, the National Assembly, Senate, Speaker National Assembly and the President have been made respondents in the petition.
Last week, LHCBA President Asad Manzoor Butt and Professional Group head Hamid Khan said lawyers across the country had rejected the 26th Constitutional Amendment.
“All bar associations have unanimously decided to challenge the amendment, which has been passed illegally,” they said while addressing a joint press conference on Monday.
LHCBA President Butt said the prime minister and federal law minister did not cooperate with lawyers. “We hope the Punjab government will cooperate with the High Court Bar,” he said and thanked Chief Minister Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Ali Amin Gandapur for a grant of Rs30 million for the bar.
Hamid Khan said that Pakistan is passing through a period of extreme difficulties. “The High Court Bars across Pakistan have rejected the 26th Amendment. All the Bars decided to challenge the amendment in the Supreme Court,” he said and termed the 26th Amendment a PCO of the democratic era. Through the amendment, he said, the powers have been concentrated in one place. The appointment of the chief justice of Pakistan has to be based on seniority.
He proposed that a constitutional bench consisting of the chief justice and senior judges should be formed. Khan said now there is talk of the 27th amendment, which is being brought to set up military courts, calling the attempt to wrap judicial system. There would be no lawyer and no argument in military courts, he declared.
