CJ says Presidential system failed in country

Updated at: 1304 PST,  Tuesday, August 10, 2010  ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Muhammed Chaudhry said the attempt to run the presidential system of governance in the country, has fizzled out, Geo News reported Tuesday. CJ Iftikhar Chaudhry remarked this while heading a 17-member full court, hearing identical petitions challenging certain provisions of the 18th Amendment with particular reference to the formation of a judicial commission for appointment of judges to superior courts. Additional Attorney General KK Agha, while giving arguments on the part of the federal government, submitted that everything in the Constitution is amendable. KK Agha gave arguments today on the basic structure of the Constitution, theory, and amendment in the constitution, saying, ‘We should not gravitate towards India, as we have our own visions and circumstances.’ He added, ‘Everything in the Constitution is amendable.’ The CJ Chaudhry said the attempt to run the country on the Presidential system of the government, failed; and, now there is Parliamentary system of the government in the country. He stressed it was public resistance or the reaction, that the powers entitled to the President, were delegated to the Prime Minister. Agha further argued that Article-175A does not enshrine the administration’s interference in the judicial matters; instead, the new procedure regarding the judges’ appointments, has been introduced envisioning the improvement in the process. The Article does not stand in conflict with any constitutional clause and as such, it should stay as it is, he observed.