LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) Tuesday accepted a plea calling for the appointment of the army chief to be made on the basis of seniority.
According to Article 243(3) of the Constitution, the president appoints the services chiefs on the recommendation of the prime minister.
On November 16, the hearing will be presided over by Justice Faisal Zaman Khan.
Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, the current Chief of the Army Staff, will step down on November 28. Conjectures about the most important appointment have increased as the date approaches.
The selection process for the army chief reportedly started around November 18, according to earlier statements from Defense Minister Khawaja Asif. The Ministry of Defense sent the prime minister a list of five candidates, from which he chose one to fill the coveted position.
The federal government, the central law secretary of Islamabad, the provincial secretaries of establishment and law in Lahore, as well as senior attorney Aitzaz Ahsan, were named as respondents in the plea, which was presented by advocate Najma Ahmed today in the LHC.
The plea said that the appointment process for the army chief was “illegal and unconstitutional.”
It said that the appointment violated Article 25 of the Constitution “patently” and was discriminatory. “The said act of appointment is unlawful, unfair, irrational, and arbitrary.”
