Increasing number of SC judges: Govt likely to table bill in NA on Friday

ISLAMABAD: The federal government is likely to introduce a bill on Friday to increase the number of judges in the Supreme Court, it is learnt.

However, in the previous session of the National Assembly, Daniyal Chaudhry of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on private members’ day on September 3, 2024 presented, “The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) (Amendment) Bill, 2024” in the National Assembly, proposing increase in the number of Supreme Court judges from 17 to 23. But, Barrister Gohar Pakistan of Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) opposed the bill, noting that under Articles 74 and 81 of the Constitution, only the government can introduce such a bill.

Subsequently, on the remarks of Barrister Gohar, Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq halted Chaudhry’s attempt to present the bill and deferred the motion.

According to the sources, there are two opinions in the government circles about increasing the strength of judges in Apex Court. One opinion is to increase the number of judges from 17 to 23 including the Chief Justice while the other opinion is to increase from 17 to 27 judges including the Chief Justice of Pakistan. However, the sources said that the consensuses would be developed within next two days as there is no sitting of the ongoing session of National Assembly in these days. The sitting of the session will be held on Friday and the bill would be introduced in the House.

According to rules and procedure and conduct of the business of the National Assembly, the house can pass the bill after introducing without referring to concerned standing committee of the house.

In response to a significant backlog of pending cases in the Supreme Court, the government appointed two ad-hoc judges in July of this year. Critics; however, have described such a move as an attempt to alter the balance of power within the apex court.

On July 26, President Asif Ali Zardari has approved the appointment of two ad-hoc judges to the Supreme Court. Justice Sardar Tariq Masood and Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel have been appointed as ad-hoc judges for a one-year term.

Meanwhile, three bills were introduced in the National Assembly on Tuesday on private members’ day. These are: “The Civil Servants (Amendment) Bill’ 2024”, “The Islamabad Healthcare Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2024”, and “The Pakistan Medical and Dental council (Amendment) Bill, 2024”. The chair referred the bills to the standing committees concerned. The House has now been adjourned to meet again on Friday at 11 am.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024