ISLAMABAD – A full court bench headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa resumed hearing petitions challenging the SC (Practice and Procedure) Act on Tuesday.
The 15-member full bench also include Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Ayesha A. Malik, Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Shahid Waheed and Justice Musarrat Hilali.
The hearing is being broadcast live on state-run PTV.
During yesterday’s hearing, the chief justice had observed that parliament approved the law with “good intentions”.
Today’s Hearing
At the outset of the hearing, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan’s (MQM-P) lawyer Faisal Siddiqui started submitting arguments. He said he would submit arguments on the apex court’s ruling on the law curtailing CJP powers and would give reference from the Baz Kakar case.
The lawyer said he would also give response to a query made by Justice Malik regarding the use of world “law” in the Article 191.
At this point, Justice Ahsan intervened, saying he wanted to ask a question. However, CJP asked the lawyer to complete his arguments, saying: “Every member of the bench wanted to ask the question but the lawyer should be given time to wrap up his arguments”.
The lawyer then argued that when the top court’s rules were being made the definition of law was written, adding that there was no ambiguity about the meaning of the world law.
“You mean the definition of law is written in Supreme Court Rule,”Justice Akhtar questioned. However, it irked the CJP Isa, who then asked the bench members to let the lawyer complete the arguments.
However, Justice Akhtar responded that as a member of the bench, it was his right to raise questions.
The CJP said it was obvious but the lawyer must be allowed to complete the arguments first.
At one point, Justice Ahsan remarked the parliament had made an attempt to interfere in the independence of the top court by enacting the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act 2023.
More to follow…
