By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday signed into law the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Amendment Ordinance 2024, limiting the powers of the country’s senior judiciary.
The law, passed by parliament last year but blocked by the top court, regulates Supreme Court affairs and introduces changes to suo moto proceedings. It requires benches to identify questions of public importance and fundamental rights through reasoned orders and apparently undermines the court’s ability to initiate cases of public importance.
“The bench hearing a matter under Article 184(3) of the Constitution shall decide and identify through a reasoned and speaking order the question of public importance involved in the matter and the fundamental right which is sought to be enforced,” the law read.
Cases will be heard in turn, with reasons furnished for taking up cases out of turn. “Unless transparent criteria are already mentioned or the applicable law requires a decision within a stipulated time, every cause, matter or appeal in the Supreme Court shall be heard at its turn based on first in, first out.”
The legislation alters the composition of the Supreme Court committee responsible for bench formation. “The Chief Justice of Pakistan shall head the committee, accompanied by the senior puisne judge and any other apex court judge nominated by the Chief Justice from time to time.”
The law’s passage follows a prolonged government-judiciary tug-of-war. The Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act 2023 was passed in April 2023, but its implementation was stayed by an eight-member bench.
Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the president had signed off on changes to the law, “following the federal cabinet’s approval of the ordinance, to serve the public interest and enhance the transparency of the judicial process”.
“The CJP will nominate one of the judges of the Supreme Court as a member of this committee from time to time,” Tarar said. “All these reforms and amendments have been made keeping in mind the interests of the common people.”
The law’s passage follows a prolonged government-judiciary tug-of-war. The Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act 2023 was passed in April 2023, but its implementation was stayed by an eight-member bench.
Legal experts expressed concerns, saying the law marks a significant shift in the balance of power between the judiciary and executive.
Later in the day, Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa nominated Justice Aminuddin Khan as the third member of the committee deciding bench formation, replacing Justice Munib Akhtar, following the changes brought by the law.
Justice Khan was part of the minority view with Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan who had rejected the appeals by the opposition Tahreek-e-Insaf party of former Prime Minister Imran Khan in the reserved seats case.
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