ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly on Tuesday deferred bill seeking to increase the number of judges in the Supreme Court.
PML-N’s Daniyal Chaudhry presented the bill proposing an increase in the number of Supreme Court judges from 17 to 23.
However, Barrister Gohar noted that under Articles 74 and 81 of the Constitution, only the government can introduce such a bill, as it cannot be a private member’s bill. T
Subsequently, NA Speaker Ayaz Sadiq halted Chaudhry’s attempt to present the bill and deferred the motion.
In a related development, JUI member Noor Alam Khan introduced the Constitutional Amendment Bill 2024 in the National Assembly, aiming to amend Article 184(3) of the Constitution, which governs the Supreme Court’s suo moto powers. The Speaker referred this bill to the Standing Committee for further review.
The proposed amendment requires that public interest cases in the Supreme Court be heard by a bench of at least nine judges. It also allows affected parties to appeal the Supreme Court’s decision within 30 days, with the appeal being heard by a larger bench than the one that issued the original ruling.
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Noor Alam Khan argued that Article 184(3) has been misused in the past, leading to undue punishments for political figures through suo moto actions. Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar cautioned against adding excessive details to the Constitution, warning that it could lead to complexities.
Noor Alam Khan also put forward another Constitutional Amendment Bill, seeking reserved seats for overseas Pakistanis in the National Assembly, Senate, and Provincial Assemblies.
This bill, along with another that proposes a ban on dual citizenship for Supreme Court and High Court judges as well as bureaucrats, was also referred to the Standing Committee.
Additionally, Noor Alam Khan introduced the Contempt of Court Repeal Bill 2024, which was referred to the standing committee. The bill proposes either the repeal or amendment of the current contempt of court law.
