Parliamentary bodys role unsatisfactory: CJ

Supreme Court resumed the hearing of identical petitions challenging some clauses of the 18th amendment on Thursday. A 17-member bench, under the head of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, was hearing the petitions. During the course of hearing, Justice Ramday said that the court has never ruled against the procedure of judges appointment in recent past. However, federations counsel Nasarullah Waraich argued that in its ruling on July 31, the court ruled that judges appointment is solely an executive matter, and that the Prime Ministers and Chief Ministers approval is a prerequisite in this regard. The Chief Justice observed that the role of parliamentary committee in judges appointment puts a question mark on the sovereignty of these two institutions, i.e, executive and judiciary.