The Pakistani government has decided to establish a new Constitutional Court under the proposed 27th Constitutional Amendment. This initiative marks a significant step in reforming the country’s judicial structure.
According to official sources, the court will initially comprise seven judges. Their mandate will be to handle constitutional matters exclusively, aiming to reduce the Supreme Court’s workload and speed up the resolution of constitutional disputes.
The proposal to create a Constitutional Court originated in the 2006 Charter of Democracy (CoD), signed by the PPP and PML-N. The coalition government has now revived this idea as part of its broader package of constitutional reforms.
The retirement age for judges of the Constitutional Court is proposed at 68 years. This is three years higher than the current retirement age for Supreme Court judges.
Read: PTI Opposes 27th Amendment, Calls It an Attack on Provincial Autonomy
Justice Aminuddin Khan is likely to be appointed as the first Chief Justice of the new court. The court will not be housed within the Supreme Court building. Potential locations include the existing Islamabad High Court building or the Federal Shariat Court building.
Five of the seven initial judges are expected to be selected from the current Supreme Court constitutional bench. The government is also considering the elevation of judges from the high courts, particularly those from the Balochistan and Sindh High Courts.
This specialised court is designed to ensure faster adjudication of constitutional disputes. It fulfils a long-envisioned goal from the Charter of Democracy that has remained unimplemented until now.
