According to the 18th Amendment Bill 2010, the Committee proposed to repeal Article-58 (2b) and substitute it as "Notwithstanding anything contained in the clause (2) of Article 48, the President may also dissolve the National Assembly in his discretion where, a vote of no-confidence having been passed against, the Prime Minister, no other members of the National Assembly commands the confidence of the majority of the members of the National Assembly in accordance with provision of the Constitution, as ascertained in a session of the National Assembly summoned for the purpose."
The Bill says, "In the Constitution, the sixth and seventh Schedule shall be omitted" "The Concurrent Legislative List and the entries thereto from 1 to 47(both inclusive) shall be omitted" the Bill further quoted.
The Bill maintained, "(a) the Legal Framework Order, 2002(Chief Executive's Order No 24 of 2002), the Legal Framework (Amendment) Order, 2002(Chief Executive's Order No 29 of 2002) and Legal Framework (Second Amendment) Order, 2002(Chief Executive's Order No 32 of 2002), are hereby declared to have been made without lawful authority and of no legal effect and, therefore, shall stand repealed; and (b) the Constitutional (Seventeenth Amendment) Act, 2003 (Act No III of 2003), is also hereby repealed."
According to the Bill, the substitution of Article 143 (3) as "The President shall, on advice of the Prime Minister, appoint- (a) the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee; (b) the Chief of the Army Staff; (c) the chief of the Naval Staff and (d) the Chief of the Air Staff, and shall also determine their salaries and allowances.
Amendment of Article 246 of the Constitution: in the Constitution, in Article, 246, in paragraph (a) "(a) in sub-paragraph (i), for the word "Balochistan" the word "Balochistan" and the words "North West Frontier" the words "Khyber Pakhtunkhwa" shall be substituted and the word "and" at the end shall be omitted, and (b) after sub-paragraph (ii), the following new sub-paragraphs shall be inserted, namely: "(iii) Tribal Areas adjoining Lakki Marwat District; and (iv)Tribal Areas adjoining Tank District."
Amendment of Article 6 of the Constitution.- In the constitution, in Article 6, (i) for clause (1), the following shall be substituted, namely: "(1) Any person who abrogates or subverts or suspends or holds in abeyance, or attempts or conspires to abrogate or subvert or suspend or hold in abeyance, the Constitution by use of force or show of force or by any other unconstitutional means shall be guilty of high treason. (iii) after clause (2) amended as aforesaid, the following new clause shall be inserted, namely: "(2A). An act of high treason mentioned in clause (1) or clause (2) shall not be validated by any court including the Supreme Court and a High Court.
Amendment of Article 160 about National Finance Commission in the Constitution.- In the Constitution, in Article 160, after clause (3), the following new clauses shall be inserted, namely: "(3A) The share of the Provinces in each Award of National Finance Commission shall not be less than the share given to the Provinces in the previous Award. (3B) The Federal Finance Minister and Provincial Finance Ministers shall monitor the implementation of the Award biannually and lay their reports before both Houses of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) and the Provincial Assemblies."
Amendment of Article 161 of the Constitution.- In the Constitution, in 161, for clause (1) the following shall be substituted, namely: Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 78, (b) the net proceeds of the Federal duty of excise on oil levied at well-head and collected by the Federal Government, shall not form part of the Federal Consolidated Fund and shall be paid to the Province in which the well-head of oil is situated.
Amendment of Article 167 of the Constitution about Borrowing by Provincial Government as in the Constitution, in 167, after clause (3) the following new clause shall be inserted, namely: "(4) A Province may raise domestic or international loan, or give guarantees on the security of the Provincial Consolidated Fund within such limits and subject to such conditions as may be specified by the National Economic Council."
Amendment of Article 92 of the Constitution. - In the Constitution, in Article 92, in clause (1 ), "Provided further that the total strength of the Cabinet, including Ministers of State, shall not exceed eleven percent of the total membership of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament): Substitution of Article 156 in the Constitution.- In the Constitution, for Article 156, the following shall be substituted, namely: "156 National Economic Council.
(1) The President shall constitute a National Economic Council which shall consist of (a) the Prime Minister, who shall be the Chairman of the Council; (b) the Chief Ministers and one member from each Province to be nominated by the Chief Minister; and (c) four other members as the Prime Minister may nominate from time to time.
(2) The National Economic Council shall review the overall economic condition of the country and shall, for advising the Federal Government and the Provincial Governments, formulate plans in respect of financial, commercial, social and economic policies; and in formulating such plans it shall, amongst other factors, ensure balanced development and regional equity and shall also be guided by the Principles of Policy set out in Chapter 2 of Part-II.
(3) The meetings of the Council shall be summoned by the Chairman or on a requisition made by one-half of the members of the Council.
(4) The Council shall meet at least twice in a year and 'the quorum for a meeting of the Council shall be one-half of its total membership.
(5) The Council shall be responsible to the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) and shall submit an Annual Report to each House of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament)". Insertion of Article 175A in the Constitution.
In the Constitution, after Article 175, the following new Article shall be inserted, namely: "175A. Appointment of Judges to the Supreme Court, High Courts and the Federal Shariat Court.
(1) There shall be a Judicial Commission of Pakistan, hereinafter in this article referred to as the commission, for appointment of judges of the Supreme Court, High Courts and the Federal Shariat Court, as hereinafter provided.
(2) For appointment of Judges of the Supreme Court, the Commission shall consist of - (i) Chief Justice of Pakistan; Chairman (ii) two most senior judges of the Supreme Court; Members (iii) a former chief justice or a former judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan to be nominated by the Chief Justice of Pakistan, in consultation with the two member judges, for a period of two years: Member (iv) Federal Minister for Law and Justice; Member (v) Attorney-General for Pakistan; and Member (vi) a Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan nominated by the Pakistan Bar Council for a term of two years.
Member (3) notwithstanding anything contained in clause (1) or clause (2), the President shall appoint the most senior judge of the Supreme Court as the Chief Justice of Pakistan.
The Parliamentary Committee, hereinafter in this Article referred to as the Committee, shall consist of the following eight members, namely: (i) four members from the Senate; and (ii) four members from the National Assembly (10) Out of the eight members of the Committee, four shall be from the 'Treasury Benches, two from each House and four from the Opposition Benches, two from each House. The nomination of members from the Treasury Benches shall be made by the Leader of the House and from the Opposition Benches by the Leader of the Opposition. (12) The Committee on receipt of a nomination from the Commission may confirm the nominee by majority of its total membership within fourteen days, failing which the nomination shall be deemed to have been confirmed: Provided that the Committee may not confirm the nomination by three-fourth majority of its total membership within the said period, in which case, the Commission shall send another nomination.
The Committee shall forward the name of the nominee confirmed by it or deemed to have been confirmed to the President for appointment. Similarly, the details for the appointment of judges of High Courts and Shariat Courts are also given in the Bill.
Substitution of Article 59 of the Constitution: In the Constitution for Article 59, the following shall be substituted, namely: "59. The Senate: - (1) The Senate shall consist of one-hundred and four members, of whom,- (a) Fourteen shall be elected by the members of each Provincial Assembly.
(b) Eight shall be elected from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, in such manner as the President may, by Order, prescribe; (c) Two on general seats, and one from women and one technocrat in such manner as the President may, by Order, Prescribe; (d) Four women shall be elected by the members of each Provincial Assembly; (e) Four technocrats including ulema shall be elected by the members of each Provincial Assembly; and (f) Four non-Muslim, one from each province, shall be elected by the members of each Provincial Assembly: Provided that paragraph (g) shall be effective from the next Senate election after the commencement of the Constitution (Eighteenth Amendment) Act, 2010.
The Committee recommended in the draft of constitutional package that the government should constitute an Implementation Commission for devolution process and transition as a consequence of abolition of the Concurrent List.
The committee also recommended that in view of a major devolution of powers and responsibilities to the provinces in the constitutional reforms package, "it is imperative that the extent of and modalities for distribution of work between the Federal Public Service Commission, Provincial Public Service Commission and the respective services be reworked and the services reorganised as to ensure provincial autonomy and good governance.