SC bill: AGP directed to submit parliamentary record by tomorrow

ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court (SC) on Monday directed Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Awan to submit a parliamentary record by tomorrow in petitions challenging the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023, aimed at clipping the powers of the CJP, ARY News reported.

On the last hearing, Supreme Court (SC) issued notices to the government, AGP, political parties, bar councils, and others to submit their response in the petitions against Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023.

The bench is headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial and comprises Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Ayesha Malik, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi and Justice Shahid Waheed.

At the outset of the hearing, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz also forwarded plea for the formation of the full court to hear the matter. Justice Ijazul Ahsan said your plea has not been marked till now.

After being asked by CJP Justice Umar Ata Bandial, AGP Mansoor Awan hoped that the record of the Parliamentary proceedings will be received tomorrow. “We have filed plea for full court to hear the pleas.”

AGP in his arguments before the SC said that the matter of benches and appeals in the SC has been fixed in the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023. The right to change lawyer has also been given to the petitioner in the judicial reforms bill, he added.

He said the matters fixed in the law were of administrative in nature and added that rules of SC were also finalized by the full court and the amendment can only be done by the full court.

Read more: Justice Qazi Faez Isa says SC holds suo motu powers, not CJP

Responding to the AGP Mansoor Awan, Justice Ayesha Malik said any bench can hear the cases at SC. “Do government wants to take advantage of the full court,” she asked.

PML-N’s arguments

After the completion of arguments of the AGP for the formation of a full court, PML-N lawyer Barrister Salahuddin in his arguments said for the first time the implementation on the law is halted via a stay order.

He said pleas for the formation of full court are given in routinely, the same happened in the cases of Justice Qazi Faez Isa and former CJP Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

Justice Ahsan said the matter of Justice Isa was forwarded to the CJP, the top judge was not hearing the matter by himself.

CJP Justice Bandial said the cases of Iftikhar Chaudhry and Justice Isa were of presidential reference. The trial of the SC is initiated whenever there are allegations against any of the judges, he remarked.

The top judge said the full court is only formed when the matter is of deep concern. Justice Muneeb Akhtar questioned how can PML-N plead for the formation of a full court.

SC has directed the attorney general of Pakistan to submit the record of the Parliamentary proceedings by tomorrow. Later the hearing was adjourned for three weeks.

Last hearing

In his arguments, Imtiaz Siddiqui said the political crisis emerged after the restoration of the National Assembly. The federal government and the ECP are not ‘interested’ in holding elections after which the SC had to take suo moto notice.

After the decision, the judges were criticized for which the government,  ministers and the members of the parliament are ‘responsible’ he added.

Imtiaz Siddiqui said that the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023 is against the independence of the judiciary. The bill was rejected but later it was passed by the joint session of the parliament, he maintained and added as per article 191, the SC forms its rules and procedure.

SC rules are available, which cannot be amended by the Parliament, he added. To this, the CJP remarked: “You mean to say that the freedom of judiciary is basic fundamental which is safeguarded by the constitution.”

Umar Ata Bandial remarked that the court has the utmost respect for the parliament and issued notices to AGP, political parties, bar councils and others during the hearing of petitions challenging a bill clipping the powers of the chief justice.

CJP Bandial said the next hearing of the case will be decided after consultation with the fellow judges and added that the court will release the order of today’s hearing.

Read more: Govt rejects bench hearing Supreme Court (Procedure and Practice) Bill

Govt rejects SC bench

The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) ruled coalition government has rejected the 8-member bench of the Supreme Court formed to hear a petition challenging the Supreme Court (Procedure and Practice) Bill 2023.

The bench headed by CJP Umar Ata Bandial includes Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Muneeb Akhtar, Justice Shahid Waheed, Justice Muzahir Ali Akbar Naqvi, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Ayesha Malik and Justice Syed Hassan Azhar Rizvi.

In a statement after a consultative meeting, the ruling coalition rejected the move and called it ‘controversial’.

Bill

On Monday, amid strong protests by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers, the Joint Sitting of Parliament passed the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023, which aims to curtail the suo motu powers of office of the chief justice of Pakistan (CJP).

Minister for Law and Justice Azam Nazeer Tarar moved the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill, 2023 which was passed by the Parliament.

It is to mention that President Dr Arif Alvi returned the ‘judicial reforms’ bill for reconsideration to the Parliament as per the provisions of Article 75 of the Constitution.