The Supreme Court (SC) adjourned on Tuesday hearing on a set of petitions challenging the (Practice and Procedure) Act 2023.
The hearing will resume tomorrow (Wednesday) on 11:30am.
The full court bench hearing the petitions is led by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Ayesha A. Malik, Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Shahid Waheed and Justice Musarrat Hilali.
During the hearing, the CJP asked his fellow judges to allow MQM-P’s lawyer Faisal Siddiqui to complete his arguments after Justice Akhtar questioned the counsel in the middle of his argument.
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“I think counsel is entitled to argue any which way they want to. Let us hear you. I have to hear you to decide what you say and if we have already formed opinions, we can reflect them in our judgements,” the CJP said.
Justice Akhtar, however, protested being “interrupted all the time” and said it was his right to question the lawyer as a member of the bench.
In response, the chief justice said it was the counsel that was being interrupted, and asked the lawyer to continue his arguments.
On Monday, Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa questioned how the constitution and the law depend on the whims of the Chief Justice of Pakistan.
He warned that this message should not go out from this courtroom that the size of the chief justice’s foot is bigger than the constitution and the law. He said “this is a wrong notion that the next chief justice could decide whatever he likes.”
Justice Isa said the chief justice was also under the constitution, and it should not be thought that the constitution was subservient to the whims of the chief justice, adding he should also follow the constitution and the law.
The bill
The previous Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) led government had enacted the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act, 2023, in a bid to clip the chief justice’s powers to form benches and fix any case before him.
The bill was passed by the parliament earlier this year.
However, an eight-judge bench, including the former CJP Umar Ata Bandial, stayed the bill’s implementation after a set of three petitions challenging it.
The Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill, 2023, serves multiple purposes, including the delegation of suo motu notice-taking authority to a three-member committee composed of senior judges, including the chief justice.
The bill aims to ensure transparent proceedings within the apex court and safeguard the right to appeal.
The bill outlines the constitution of benches, specifying that a committee consisting of the chief justice and the two most senior judges will be responsible for constituting benches to handle cases, and decisions will be reached by majority vote.
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Regarding cases invoking the apex court’s original jurisdiction under Article 184(3), the bill stipulates that they must first be presented to the aforementioned committee for consideration.
Moreover, the bill grants the committee the authority to form a bench comprising at least three judges from the Supreme Court, which may include members of the committee itself, to adjudicate on matters of significant public importance relating to the enforcement of fundamental rights.