Deputies vote to scrap judicial council’s secretariat general

AMMAN — MPs on Wednesday decided to scrap the secretariat general of the Higher Judicial Council.

At a Lower House session, MPs voted in favour of the cancellation of Article 8 of the draft independence of the judiciary law that stipulates the formation of the Higher Judicial Council’s secretariat general.

In two sessions, the MPs endorsed eight articles out of the bill’s 52 provisions.

They are still in disagreement over Article 4, which was endorsed on Sunday and dealt with the formation of the council, as some MPs oppose having four elected members.

The new method ends decades of appointing leading judges to these high-ranking judicial positions by Royal Decree upon a government recommendation.

The mechanism would entail adding four seats to the council whose members are elected from among the judges.

Other members of the judicial council will remain unchanged and are appointed based on their positions or seniority.

During Wednesday’s meeting, Lower House Speaker Atef Tarawneh said he received a memo signed by 51 deputies out of the 150-strong House demanding a reconsideration of this particular provision. 

The controversy caused disorder and forced Tarawneh to adjourn the session until next Sunday.

Immediately after the meeting, several MPs, including former House speaker Abdul Karim Dughmi (Mafraq, 1st District) and Khalil Atiyeh (Amman, 1st District), began lobbying for the annulment of the amended provision.

On the other hand, former Lower House speaker Saad Hayel Srour (Northern Badia) and several MPs said now is the right time to elect some members of the council.