Role of Judiciary

📂 START HERE — How This Page Is Organised

No child pages here — read in this order:

1. Constitutional role
2. Historical trajectory
3. Challenges
4. Reforms needed
5. Exam angle

• Actual CSS question using this page: 2017 Q3 — role of the judiciary in constitutional development (solved on XXVII. The Recent Constitutional and Legal Debates).

📺 Directly Relevant YouTube Lecture Sources

• Political Instability Era (1951–1956) — 1954–55: Tamizuddin case and the doctrine of necessity
• The Musharraf Era (1999–2008) — Musharraf: the 2007 Lawyers' Movement
• Current Tenure — Coalition Governments (2022–Present) — 26th and 27th Amendments

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Constitutional Role

• The third organ of state:
  • interprets the Constitution
  • decides disputes
  • protects fundamental rights (Art. 8–28)
• Structure:
  • Federal Constitutional Court (since 2025) for constitutional matters
  • Supreme Court for ordinary appeals
  • five High Courts (four provinces + Islamabad)
  • district and subordinate courts
  • Federal Shariat Court and special courts
• Article 184(3): original jurisdiction on public-importance rights cases — the basis of suo motu; moved to the FCC in 2025.
• Judicial review: striking down unconstitutional laws and acts (Marbury v. Madison logic).

Historical Trajectory

• Doctrine of necessity (Justice Munir, Maulvi Tamizuddin, 1955):
  • validated the Governor-General's dissolution of the Assembly (1954)
  • became the precedent for validating martial laws (1958, 1977, 1999)
• Lawyers' Movement (2007–09): restored CJ Iftikhar Chaudhry — the landmark of judicial independence.
• SHCBA case (2009): buried the doctrine of necessity.
• 18th and 19th Amendments (2010): Judicial Commission for appointments, less executive influence.
• 26th Amendment (2024):
  • parliamentary committee picks the CJP (seniority diluted)
  • constitutional benches
• 27th Amendment (2025): Federal Constitutional Court takes over constitutional jurisdiction — judges resigned in protest.

Challenges

• Backlog: over 2 million pending cases — justice delayed is justice denied.
• Politicisation:
  • perception of benches formed for or against governments
  • judge-bashing on social media
• Executive–judiciary tension over appointments and contempt.
• Access to justice:
  • costly litigation
  • rural areas underserved
  • weak lower courts
• Missing persons: limited power to enforce orders against the security establishment.

Reforms Needed

• Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) expansion to reduce backlog
• Judicial appointments on merit/seniority with transparent criteria
• Capacity building of the subordinate judiciary
• Digital case management
• Depoliticize suo motu power — clearer criteria for invocation

Exam Angle

• Often paired with civil-military relations:
  • legitimising interventions — doctrine of necessity
  • resisting them — 2007 movement, SHCBA 2009
• Know the 26th and 27th Amendment changes thoroughly.