• CJ Aminuddin inaugurates building, resumes hearing on super tax petitions
• Lawyers complain about lack of facilities
• CJP Afridi opens advocates’ room, Litigant Facilitation Centre at SC
ISLAMABAD: The Federal Constitutional Court finally settled into its newly renovated building on Constitution Avenue on Monday, where FCC Chief Justice Aminuddin Khan presided over a bench to resume hearing challenges to the imposition of the super tax inside the refurbished Courtroom No. 1.
Before the hearing, Justice Aminuddin Khan inaugurated the new court building in a simple ceremony attended by Justices Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Aamir Farooq, Ali Baqar Najafi and K.K. Agha, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, Attorney General for Pakistan Mansoor Usman Awan, Supreme Court Bar Association President Haroonur Rashid, FCC Registrar Hafeez Khan, along with lawyers and staff of the new establishment.
The FCC has a total sanctioned strength of 13 judges. Soon after its establishment, the FCC was shifted to the Islamabad High Court on a temporary basis, though it was originally envisaged that the new apex court would be housed in the building designated for the Federal Shariat Court (FSC). The FCC had to move to the IHC after FSC judges resisted the plan and denied access to their premises.
Courtroom No. 1 has been completely revamped with new furniture and fixtures, replacing the older seating, along with the installation of a modern audio system to facilitate lawyers and litigants.
However, a senior lawyer expressed disappointment over the currently available facilities in the building. “Neither is there a bar room for lawyers nor any canteen for litigants inside the FCC,” Advocate Tallat Abbas Khan told Dawn, adding that lawyers had no choice but to cross the road and enter the Supreme Court building just to sit and rest after a day’s work.
He said that since the FCC had become the country’s top court, it would attract a large number of lawyers and litigants in the future, but the facilities currently available were insufficient to cope with the expected volume.
Inside Courtroom No. 1, lawyer Rashid Anwar complained before a three-judge bench headed by the FCC chief justice, hearing the super tax case, that he could not determine how much time he had consumed during arguments as there was no wall clock in the courtroom.
At this, the chief justice observed that the present set-up lacked several facilities, but assured that the issues would be addressed soon.
Referring to a request regarding video-link facilities to different cities, the chief justice said that while the facility was currently not available, it might be provided in the future.
The new FCC building houses seven courtrooms, though only three are currently functional, all located on the first floor. Recently, 22,910 cases were transferred from the Supreme Court to the FCC.
