Federal cabinet approves draft law to curtail CJP suo motu powers

ISLAMABAD: The federal cabinet has approved the draft law to curtail suo motu powers of the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP), ARY News reported on Tuesday.

The federal cabinet’s session was held under the chair of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif today. The cabinet members approved the draft law related to the judicial reforms.

The draft bill will be presented to the National Assembly (NA) for its approval today.

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Under the new legislation, the decision for suo motu notice will be taken by three senior judges of the Supreme Court (SC) and they will have to fix the appeal within 14 days.

The new legislation will end sole power of the chief justice to take the suo motu notice.

Earlier in the day, the federal government contemplated legislation to limit the suo motu powers of the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP).

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The federal government decided to go for immediate legislation under judicial reforms which would bar the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) from solely exercising the suo motu powers.

Sources told ARY News that the new legislation will stop CJP from solely using the suo motu powers, moreover, it will also modify the law regarding appeals against the suo motu notices. It was learnt that the government is mulling to give powers to the full court for taking suo motu notice.

Sources added that the government is also considering to change law for the constitution of Supreme Court (SC) benches.