Petitions challenging SC Amendment Ordinance: LHC adjourns proceedings, seeks further arguments

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court Chief Justice Aalia Neelum on Wednesday adjourned the proceedings in two identical petitions challenging the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Amendment Ordinance 2024 and sought further arguments on the maintainability of the petitions on October 07.

Earlier, the petitioners’ counsel confirmed that he had not filed a petition in the Supreme Court on the same subject matter.

He asked the Chief Justice to decide the matter before the next week, otherwise, the petition would stand infructuous.

The Chief Justice observed that it was difficult to hold the hearing sooner due to workload during the current week.

The Chief Justice also directed the office to provide a copy of the new petition to the offices of the Attorney General Pakistan and Advocate General of Punjab, so they could assist the court at next hearing.

The petitioners mainly claimed that the presidential ordinance was based on malice.

They said there was already a Supreme Court ruling on the Practice and Procedure Act 2023, and the powers of the apex court cannot be increased or decreased through an ordinance. They asked the court to declare the impugned ordinance null and void.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024