ISLAMABAD: The Senate passed the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill, 2023, which seeks to strip the chief justice of powers to take suo motu notice in an individual capacity, on Thursday. The bill received 60 votes in favour and 19 against.
The cabinet had approved the bill on March 28, and the National Assembly passed it with amendments suggested by the Standing Committee on Law and Justice the following day.
The proposed amendments to the Supreme Court’s rules have generated fresh debate in legal and political circles, and it is expected that the bill may be challenged by the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) in the apex judicial forum.
As the bill was presented by Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar, strong opposition was witnessed from PTI members who raised banners against “attacks on the judiciary”.
سپریم کورٹ پریکٹس اینڈ پروسیجر ترمیمی بل کیخلاف پی ٹی آئی سینیٹرز کا شدید احتجاج، چیئرمین ڈائس کا گھیراؤ کرلیا pic.twitter.com/yldmvqIvXu
— PTI (@PTIofficial) March 30, 2023
The bill allows appeals to be made within 30 days of an order from a bench exercising jurisdiction under Article 184(3) of the Constitution. The appeal will go to a larger bench of the Supreme Court, and will be heard within 14 days.
The right of appeal will also apply to aggrieved persons against whom an order has been made under the aforementioned clause prior to the commencement of the law, provided that the appeal is filed within 30 days of the commencement of the act.
The bill also aims to ensure the right to a free trial and due process of law as enshrined under Article 10-A of the Constitution.
During his presentation, Tarar said that the indiscriminate use of the law should be stopped, and that the bill includes the right to appeal, adding that it was time for Parliament to legislate on it.
The minister argued there has been a new trend in the Supreme Court in the past two decades where the court became dependent on an individual, rather than collective thinking.
He said that the jurisdiction of Article 106 of the Constitution needed to be restructured to reflect collective thinking. He also highlighted that there were demands in the recent Senate sessions to solve the issue of excessive use of Article 184(3), which he claimed was causing losses worth billions of dollars.
The bill aims to solve the issue by limiting the power of one person to constitute benches and instead promote collective thinking to strengthen institutions, Tarar said.
