President Alvi returns Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023 to parliament

President Arif Alvi on Saturday returned the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023 to the parliament, citing that the proposed legislation is beyond the jurisdiction of the legislative body and susceptible to challenge as a specious enactment.

He also called for its reconsideration to meet scrutiny about its validity.

In a letter, Alvi wrote that “in order to meet the scrutiny about its validity (if assailed in the Court of law), I have thought it fit and proper as per the provisions of Article 75 of the Constitution to return the Bill with the request for reconsideration.”

The draft of the bill proposes delegating the chief justice’s powers to take suo motu notices and constitute benches to a three-member committee consisting of the CJP and two senior judges.

One of these amendments is the right to appeal against suo motu verdicts taken up to 30 days before the passing of the Lawyers’ Protection Act. Another is that any case that involves interpreting the Constitution will not have a bench with fewer than five judges.

On March 28, the National Assembly (NA) sent the bill to a committee on law after legislators called for a detailed debate on it.

On March 29, NA passed the bill through a simple majority after the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) withdrew its proposed amendments.

The federal cabinet also approved the bill. On March 30, the Senate approved the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023.

After this, the bill was sent to President Alvi.

During the debate, the law minister pointed out that “for the past year, two senior SC judges have not been included in any important bench. This should not happen.”

He was of the view that suo moto power was being used as a “one-man show”. He also stressed that a constitutional amendment was not needed to reduce chief justice’s powers.