An eight-member larger bench of the Supreme Court (SC) will resume hearing petitions challenging Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023 seeking to ‘clip’ suo motu powers of the chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) and constitution of benches, on Monday (today).
According to the roster issued on Saturday, the eight-member bench will comprise Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Sayyad Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Ayesha Malik, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi and Justice Shahid Waheed would hear the case at 12:30 pm.
Advocate Muhammad Shafay Munir, Raja Amer Khan, Chaudhry Ghulam Hussain and others have filed identical petitions under Article 184(3) of the Constitution.
Article 184(3) of the Constitution sets out the SC’s original jurisdiction, and enables it to assume jurisdiction in matters involving a question of “public importance” with reference to the “enforcement of any of the fundamental rights” of Pakistan’s citizens.
The bill, titled the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023, is aimed at curtailing the suo motu powers of the office of the CJP in an individual capacity.
It was initially passed by both houses of parliament and sent to the president for his assent. However, the president had sent it back, saying that the proposed law travelled “beyond the competence of parliament”. The bill was subsequently adopted by a joint session of the parliament — albeit with some amendments.
However, while hearing the set of three petitions challenging the bill, the eight-member apex court bench on April 13 ruled that after the bill received either the president’s assent or it was deemed to have been given, the act that “comes into being shall not have, take or be given any effect nor be acted upon in any manner” — halting the law’s implementation when the bill came into effect.
The ruling coalition government was swift to reject the apex court’s ruling. President Dr Arif Alvi again refused to give his assent to the bill on April 19 and sent it back to parliament, following which it technically became an act of parliament on April 21.
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The bill states that a three-member bench, comprising the CJP and the two senior-most judges of the apex court, will decide whether or not to take up a matter suo motu. Previously, this was solely the prerogative of the CJP.
The proposed law also states that every cause, matter, or appeal before the apex court would be heard and disposed of by a bench, constituted by a committee made up of the chief justice and the two senior-most judges.
The legislation also includes the right to file an appeal within 30 days of the judgement in a suo motu case and that any case involving constitutional interpretation will not have a bench of fewer than five judges.
The bill seeks to allow former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and other parliamentarians disqualified by the Supreme Court under suo motu powers (such as Jahangir Tareen) to appeal their disqualification within 30 days of the law’s enactment.
Meanwhile, the federal government has again filed a plea in the apex court to form a full court bench to hear all the petitions against the bill as SC turned down centre’s plea in the last hearing.
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Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial said on Friday that the apex court would proceed in line with the constitution and would not sit idle on the May 14 election issue if the dialogue between the government and the PTI failed. The Supreme Court resumed the hearing on the plea regarding holding of general elections for the National Assembly and provincial assemblies in one go after the coalition government and main opposition party PTI sat together for three days and tried to talk out the issue.
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