ISLAMABAD – The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Tuesday turned down a plea seeking formation of a full bench to hear the petitions against a bill curtailing powers of the chief justice.
An eight-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan, Justice Muneeb Akhtar, Justice Mazahir Naqvi, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Ayesha Malik, Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi and Justice Shahid Waheed issued the ruling while hearing the petitions filed, filed under Article 184(3) of the Constitution, against the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023.
Last month, the bill was approved by a joint session of the parliament after President Arif Alvi refused to sign it into law. The bill was again sent to the president and he returned it unsigned.
On April 22, the National Assembly’s official Twitter account made the announcement, stating: “Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act, 2023 of the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) is deemed to have been assented by the president w.e.f., 21 April 2023, under Clause (2) of Article 75 of the Constitution”.
The announcement was made despite April 14 order of the top court that had halted implementation of the bill till further order.
During today’s hearing, representatives of the PML-N, PPP and Pakistan Bar Council were present in the court.
As the hearing began, CJP Bandial remarked that the previous order of the court to halt the implementation of the bill was of interim nature. He said the legislation was related to the third pillar of the Constitution and independence of the judiciary.
The PBC lawyer asked the chief justice to constitute the full bench to hear the case giving its importance. He also called for exclusion of Justice Naqvi from the bench due to complaints filed against him in the Supreme Judiciary Council.
The top judge rejected the plea, observing that it was his prerogative to constitute benches. He said no judge could be ousted from the bench until the reference against him was decided.
Later, the top court sought the parliamentary record of the legislation and answers from all parties on May 8.
