COAS Extension Case: Govt Gets Relief As SC Orders Simple Legislation

The Supreme Court in its judgment in the case pertaining to the army chief’s tenure extension has directed the government to pass a simple legislation instead of amending the constitution, thereby giving relief to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government.

According to a report in Express Tribune, the judgement, given by SC judge Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, said that the government is required to pass a simple legislation in the matter, which would only require a simple majority to give a legal cover to the COAS’s tenure extension as opposed to amending the constitution, which would require a two-thirds majority in the parliament.

Justice Mansoor Ali Shah said that the court had exercised judicial restraint by giving the government an opportunity to carry out legislation through an Act of Parliament within a period of 6 months.

Justice Shah added in his judgement that the exercise of judicial restraint should not be confused with the ‘doctrine of necessity’, which allows going against the law of the land to attain a political or another goal.

The judge also said that there was no law regarding the tenure of the army chief. The court referred to Article 203D of the constitution under which the court can order the federal government to launch a process for appropriate legislative amendments.

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