By Raja Asghar

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly passed a bill on Monday for the establishment of a seven-judge Islamabad High Court in compliance with the 18th amendment made in the constitution last month.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani immediately congratulated the people of the Islamabad Capital Territory over the unanimous passage of the bill and told the house that the court would benefit some 25,000 lawyers in the area.

The creation of the court was notified by the Law and Justice Ministry last month after the 18th constitutional amendment bill was signed by President Asif Ali Zardari into an act of parliament.

However, the new bill, according to an accompanying statement of objects and reasons, “is designed to make provisions for its composition, jurisdiction, practice and procedure, transfer of pending proceedings and for matters connected therewith and ancillary thereto”.

The court was originally set up through an ordinance under the controversial Nov 3, 2007, emergency proclamation of the then president Pervez Musharraf.

But it ceased to exist after the Supreme Court declared that emergency unconstitutional on July 31, 2009.

However, all political parties agreed to re-establish the court under the 18th amendment, with a unique feature that its chief justice will be appointed in rotation from Islamabad, the four provinces and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

“The Islamabad High Court shall consist of a chief justice and six other judges to be appointed one from each province, one from the Islamabad Capital Territory and one from Federally Administered Tribal Areas,” says clause three of the Islamabad High Court Bill.

With Islamabad as its principal seat, the court will have original, appellate, revisional and other jurisdiction in respect of the Islamabad Capital Territory.

However, the bill said the court “shall have original jurisdiction in suits and proceedings having pecuniary value of 10 million rupees or more”.
Source: Dawn
Date:5/11/2010