Pakistan's National Assembly adopts bill to curtail powers of Chief Justice

In a bid to rein in the top judiciary Pakistans parliament on Wednesday passed a bill to curtail the powers of the chief justice regarding suo motu cases and the constitution of benchesThe development comes a day after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif told lawmakers that history would not forgive us if parliament did not enact laws to curtail the powers of the countrys top judgeMinister for Law and Justice Azam Nazeer Tarar tabled The Supreme Court Practice and Procedure Bill 2023 on Tuesday in the wake of the latest controversy over the powers of the top judge of the Supreme Court The bill was earlier approved by the CabinetThe National Assembly passes The Supreme Court Practice and Procedure Bill 2023 the lower house announced in a tweetThe bill was passed hours after the National Assembly Standing Committee on Law and Justice gave its consent The committee headed by lawmaker Bashir Virk approved the proposed amendmentsThe development comes two days after two Supreme Court judges questioned the suo motu on its own powers of the countrys top judgeIt is being said that a constitutional amendment should be made Tarar said I want them to know there is no need for a constitutional amendmentNorth Waziristan lawmaker Mohsin Dawar introduced amendments which were acceptedAlso readMumbai 24yearold robbed at knifepoint on SCLR bridge four members of gang heldAdditional amendments included the right to appeal against the suo motu verdicts taken up to 30 days before the passing of the Lawyers Protection Act was included in the bill along with the amendment that any case that involves interpreting the Constitution will not have a bench with fewer than five judges Dawn newspaper reportedThe bill provides that the three seniormost judges will decide about the suo motu action on any issue Previously it was the prerogative of the chief justice of the Supreme Court The bill also includes a clause regarding the right of challenging the decision which could be filed within 30 days and will then be fixed for a hearing in two weeksIt says every clause appeal or matter before the Supreme Court shall be heard and disposed of by a bench constituted by the committee comprising the chief justice and two senior judges in order of seniorityThe bill also mentioned that the decision of the committee shall be by the majorityPakistan TehreekeInsaf chairman Imran Khan has lashed out at the federal government for trying to clip the discretionary powers of the countrys chief justice asserting that the move was aimed at putting more pressure on the judiciaryEvery one of us wants judicial reforms But their the PDM parties only goal is to escape from the election Khan was quoted as saying by Geo TV in a televised address on TuesdayThe attack on the Supreme Court of Pakistan by the gang of criminals the attempts to reduce its powers and degrade it is being strongly resisted by the people and this resistance will continue Khan tweetedKhan 70 said the current dispensation took the decision in a hurry only to put pressure on the judiciaryAddressing the joint session of parliament on Tuesday Prime Minister Sharif talked at length about the dissenting judgement by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail of the apex court who lashed out at the unlimited authority of the chief justice to take a suo motu on its own action on any issue and constitute benches of choice to hear different casesTheir judgment was about the case of suo motu notice taken by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial on February 22 about elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincesSpeaking passionately about the need for new laws to limit the chief justices power Sharif said if the legislation were not passed history would not forgive usThe suo motu power is based on the original jurisdiction of the court under Article 184 of the Constitution However its usage over the years has created an impression of partiality on the Chief Justices partIt was openly challenged for the first time by the two judges who were part of a bench that in its 32 majority decision of March 1 directed the Election Commission of Pakistan ECP to consult with President Arif Alvi for polls in Punjab and Governor Ghulam Ali for elections in Khyber PakhtunkhwaThe fivemember bench was reconstituted by Bandial who took a suo motu action against the delay in elections and initially formed a ninemember bench to deal with the issue However two of the nine judges differed with the decision to take suo motu notice while two other judges recused themselves prompting the Chief Justice to form a new benchJustice Shah and Justice Mandokhail in their detailed 28page dissenting note also rejected the 32 judgment in the suo motu case by saying that it was a 43 judgment to reject the maintainability of the case and lambasted the Chief Justices power to form a bench for important casesThe coalition government led by Prime Minister Sharif which is supporting the ECPs decision to delay the election in the two provinces until October 8 is trying to use the parliament to curtail the powers of the Chief JusticeThe premier also said that the courts were treating Imran Khan favourably and were not ready to hold Khan accountableSharif said that enough is enough and the law would take its course while the government would not allow the favourite to play with PakistanThe development comes as the top court is hearing a case about the decision of the Election Commission of Pakistan to postpone the provincial election till October 8 well beyond the 90 days deadline by the constitution to hold elections after the dissolution of an assemblyThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever