60 senators support the bill while 19 members oppose it n House also passes Lawyers Welfare and Protection Bill, 2023 and the Inter Boards Coordination Commission Bill, 2023 n NA speaker offers Parliament’s support to clear pending cases in courts. ISLAMABAD - The Senate on Thursday passed the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill, 2023 aimed at curtailing discretionary powers of the Chief Justice of Pakistan in initiating suo motu cases, constituting benches, and allocating cases amid protest of the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). The house passed the bill by a majority of 60-19 without sending it to the standing committee concerned. The bill moved by Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar also proposes giving right to appeal in all suo motu cases with retrospective effect.
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A day earlier, the National Assembly had passed the bill while incorporating last minute changes proposed by the standing committee on law and justice. The bill will soon become an act of the parliament if President Dr Arif Alvi gave its final consent on it. PTI protested over the proposed legislation terming it an “assault on judiciary” and “attempt to amend the constitution through simple legislation.” PTI lawmakers chanted slogans and tore up copies of the agenda and tossed the same in the air all around. Some of them had brought with themselves placards inscribed with slogans like “attack on judiciary unacceptable.”
Law Minister Senator Tarar talking about the salient features of the bill said it proposed constitution of the benches and allocation of cases by a committee comprising Chief Justice and two senior most judges. “Such a law was the longstanding demand of the bar councils and lawyers bodies.”
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He went on to say that a new trend was seen in the Supreme Court in the past two decades that the apex court became dependent on an individual instead it performed functions through collective wisdom. He criticized the excessive use of suo motu powers by saying it was against the concept of trichotomy of powers enshrined in the Constitution.
“The state had incurred losses amounting to billions of dollars because of suo-motu notices,” he said while referring to the Reko Diq project. He said that the bill also proposed that the SC would take up the cases of important nature within 14 days as they used to be kept pending for many months in the past.
Senator Tarar indirectly referring to CJP remarked the bill was aimed at bringing to an end an absolute monopoly of an individual.
Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Dr Shahzad Waseem while responding to the government said that the bill was a direct attack on the independence of judiciary. He said that the bill was aimed at protecting political and personal interests instead of making judicial reforms.
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He said the real purpose behind the controversial legislation was to escape elections. He said the right to appeal in suo motu cases with retrospective effect was being proposed to give a relief to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in corruption and get the court decision of his disqualification reversed.
Former Chairman Senate Mian Raza Rabbani said that the developments taking place in SC and infighting within the institution were setting off alarm bells.
He regretted that the political parties took their disputes to the judiciary and added that the parliament should be a platform for dialogue.
PTI Senator Barrister Syed Ali Zafar stressed that the powers given to the judiciary under the constitution couldn’t be taken away through an act of parliament. He said the bill was against the Constitution and likely to be struck down by the apex court.
Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) Senator Mushtaq Ahmad, expressing his reservations about the bill, regretted that the parliament was being used only to legislate for the elite.
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The House also passed the Lawyers Welfare and Protection Bill, 2023 and the Inter Boards Coordination Commission Bill, 2023.
Separately, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar responding to the criticism of PTI over the present economic situation and massive inflation said Pakistan’s technical talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have completed. He taunted the opposition party by saying that Pakistan’s economy was at number 24 in 2017, which fell to 47th in 2022. “What happened in five years that the economy went so low,” he said while questioning the performance of the last PTI government.
“We have reversed the agreements made by the previous government for which we are paying a big price … they destroyed the economy, now doing politics on it,” he said.
Meanwhile, in another development, National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf, while expressing concerns over the extraordinary pending cases in the courts in the lower house, offered that Parliament was ready if any guidance is required on the subject.
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The house, in a question-hour, was informed that a large number of cases are pending in different courts.
Responding to a question during Question Hour in the House, Minister of State for Law Shahadat Awan informed the House that 51,744 cases were pending in the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
The Minister further said 179,425 cases are pending in the Lahore High Court, 85,781 cases in the Sindh High Court, 41,911 cases in the Peshawar High Court, 17,104 in the Islamabad High Court and 4,471 cases in the Balochistan High Court.
To a question, Parliamentary Secretary on Communication Shahida Akhtar Ali informed that work on several flood damaged roads had been completed. She said the authorities concerned regularly visit the sites where work is underway.
The House passed “The Pakistan Institute of Research and Registration of Quality Assurance Bill, 2022” whereas several bills were also introduced in the National Assembly.
The bills introduced in the House yesterday include “[The Control of Narcotics Substances (Amendment) Bill, 2023”, “The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2023”, “The National Refugee Bill, 2023” “[The Muslim Family Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2023”, “The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) (Amendment) Bill, 2023” and “The Institute of Management and Technology (IMT) Bill, 2023”.