Islamabad: The Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023, which seeks to deny the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) office the authority to take suo motu notice in a personal capacity, was passed by the National Assembly on Wednesday.
Azam Nazeer Tarar, the federal minister of law and justice, presented the bill. When speaking to the law minister, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari called the initiative “too little and too late” and suggested that it should be known as a “judges empowerment” bill. “It is being said that a constitutional amendment should be made,” Tarar said when he started to speak. I want them to understand that a constitutional amendment is unnecessary.
“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.”
He said Pakistan has six bar councils and “all of them saluted the House and the law for tabling the bill”.
North Waziristan MNA Mohsin Dawar introduced amendments which were accepted.
Tarar also acknowledged Bilawal’s “too little, too late” remarks but said he believed “there is a right time for everything” and the government demonstrated restraint “until a voice came from within the courts”.
The law minister thanked the members of the NA Standing Committee on Law and Justice for their input on the bill. “This bill was an old demand of the bar councils which said that indiscriminate use of 184(3) should be stopped,” he added.
Tarar said the bill aimed to make apex court proceedings transparent and it also included the right to appeal.
He said that all institutions had to follow laws passed by Parliament. The minister quoted Article 191 of the Constitution, which says that “subject to the Constitution and law, the Supreme Court may make rules regulating the practice and procedure of the Court”.
Leader of the Opposition Raja Riaz praised the government’s efforts in introducing the bill and said it would ensure the freedom of the judiciary and rule of law.
Earlier in the day, the Standing Committee on Law and Justice approved the cabinet’s proposed amendments.
The bill — called “Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill, 2023” — cleared the panel with a few additional amendments. The panel session was chaired by PML-N MNA Bashir Mehmood Virk.
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.
Federal Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, Minister of State for Law and Justice Shahadat Awan, PML-N’s Mohsin Ranjha and MNA Ramesh Kumar Vankwani were also among those attending the meeting today.
