ISLAMABAD, Nov 26: The government is giving serious consideration to the demand that the members of the superior judiciary be administered fresh oath under the Constitution, and a decision to this effect is expected within a few days.

An official source told Dawn the legal advisers of the government were of the view that administering fresh oath to the judges would make no difference.

The government was apprehensive of one thing: if the judges, including the chief justice, were administered fresh oath, aspersions might be cast on the oath President Pervez Musharraf was administered by the chief justice on Nov 16.

They pointed out that the Legal Framework Order had covered the issue under clause No 270C.

The government is looking at the issue with another angle. If the judges are asked to take fresh oath despite specific provision in the LFO, it will give the impression that the government is open on the LFO and it might encourage the opposition parties to mount more pressure on the issue.

However, the government is also giving serious thought to the fact that the majority of the sitting judges were appointed during the last three years and they had taken the oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order, and giving an oath to them under the Constitution was must.