KARACHI: President Asif Zardari on Mon­d­­ay approved a controv­ersial bill to appoint reti­r­­ed high court judges to poll tribunals to settle electo­ral disputes, Dawn.com reported.

The Elections (Amend­ment) Bill, 2024, empowers the Election Commis­sion of Pakistan to appoint retired judges to election tribunals without the need to consult chief justices of the relevant high courts.

A President House statement said the bill was approved under Art­icle 75 of the Constitu­t­i­­on and now became an act. “After the amendment, in case of appointment of a serving judge in the election tribunal, the chief justice of the concerned high court will be consulted,” it said.

According to the statement of object and reasons: In 2023, through the Elections (Amendment) Act, 2023, Section 140 was amended to make only the serving judge of a high court as member of the election tribunal in respect of cases of an election to an assembly or the Senate. But the fact of the workload of high courts in pending litigation was overlooked, it said, noting that it was difficult for the serving judges to spare time for swift adjudication of election petitions.

“As such, it is appropriate to restore the original provision of Section 140 so as also to make retired high court judges eligible for appointment as member of the election tribunal for hearing of election petitions in respect of election to the National Assembly, the Senate and provincial assemblies. Similarly, for consistency, it is desirable to make retired district and sessions judges and retired additional district and sessions judges eligible for appointment as member of the election tribunal for hearing of election petitions in respect of election to a local government.”

Published in Dawn, July 9th, 2024