By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly on Wednesday adopted a bill aimed at curtailing the discretionary powers of the chief justice, preventing him from taking suo motu notices in an individual capacity on issues of fundamental rights and constitute benches for various cases.
Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar presented ‘The Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act, 2023’ in parliament.
“The National Assembly passes ‘The Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill, 2023’,” the lower house announced in a tweet.
The legislation was already approved by the cabinet in its hurriedly called meeting in the capital Islamabad, with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in the chair on Tuesday.
The development comes two days after two Supreme Court judges questioned the suo motu (on its own) powers of the country’s top judge.
“It is being said that a constitutional amendment should be made,” Minister Tarar said at the floor of the house. “I want them to know there is no need for a constitutional amendment.”
“They should go and read Article 191 of the Constitution, which empowers the Assembly to legislate. The Supreme Court also made their rules according to the Constitution and law since 1980 and it is written on the preamble as well.”
The bill would become law once it is also passed by the Senate—the upper house of Pakistan’s bicameral parliament—and receives the president’s formal approval.
North Waziristan lawmaker Mohsin Dawar introduced amendments which were accepted. Additional amendments included the right to appeal against the suo motu verdicts taken up to 30 days before the passing of the Lawyers’ Protection Act were included in the bill along with the amendment that any case that involves interpreting the Constitution will not have a bench with fewer than five judges.
Regarding suo motu powers, the bill states that any matter invoking the exercise of original jurisdiction under Article 184 (3) shall be first placed before the committee of three senior-most judges.
“..If the Committee is of the view that a question of public importance with reference to the enforcement of any of the fundamental rights conferred by Chapter I of Part II of the Constitution is involved, it shall constitute a bench comprising not less than three judges of the Supreme Court of Pakistan which may also include the members of the Committee, for adjudication of the matter,” it adds.
The legislation also allows appeals within 30 days of a verdict being issued on a suo motu case and enforces that a bench be constituted to hear such an appeal within 14 days.
Pakistan’s Peoples Party’s chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari termed the initiative “too little and too late”, and said that it should be called a “judges empowerment” bill.
Pakistan Bar Council also appreciated the government for passing the bill.
In a statement, vice chairman Haroonur Rashid and executive committee chairman Hassan Raza Pasha said the council had time and again demanded that the criteria for suo motu jurisdiction should be decided.
They also commended that the right of appeal in cases decided under Article 184(3) would now be available, adding that it would be beneficial for litigants and the public. They also appreciated the mechanism for fixing urgent cases within 14 days of them being filed.
The bill as presented aimed to reduce the discretionary powers of the chief justice to take suo motu action and also set up benches for hearings of cases.
The suo motu power is based on the original jurisdiction of the court under Article 184 of the Constitution. However, its usage over the years has created an impression of partiality on the Chief Justices’ part.
It was openly challenged for the first time by the two judges who were part of a bench that, in its 3-2 majority decision of March 1, directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to consult with President Arif Alvi for polls in Punjab and Governor Ghulam Ali for elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The five-member bench was reconstituted by the Chief Justice Umar Atta Bandial, who took a suo motu action against the delay in elections and initially formed a nine-member bench to deal with the issue.
However, two of the nine judges differed with the decision to take suo motu notice, while two other judges recused themselves, prompting the Chief Justice to form a new bench.
Justice Shah and Justice Mandokhail, in their detailed 28-page dissenting note, also rejected the 3-2 judgment in the suo motu case by saying that it was a 4-3 judgment to reject the maintainability of the case and lambasted the Chief Justice’s power to form a bench for important cases.
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