27th Amendment against Principles of judicial independence, lawyers say

The Sindh High Court on Thursday issued notices to the ministry of law and justice and the ministry of parliamentary affairs on two identical petitions impugning the 27th Constitutional Amendment. Two lawyers have petitioned the SHC and asserted that the amendment has violated the principle of separation of power, judicial independence and rule of law. A two-judge constitutional bench of the SHC comprising Justice Adnan Iqbal Chaudhry and Justice Muhammad Jaffer Raza also put a federal law officer on notice for Dec 18. Citing the federation through the secretaries of ministry of law and justice and parliamentary affairs as respondents, petitioners Asif Waheed and Abdul Ahad Ahmar Khan contended that the creation of a parallel judicial structure and subordination of the Supreme Court will disrupt the continuity of constitutional interpretation and institutional evolution thereby violating the doctrine of basic structure.