Pakistan’s National Assembly on Wednesday adopted a bill aimed at curtailing the discretionary powers of the chief justice, a day after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that “history would not forgive us” if parliament did not enact laws to curtail the powers of the country’s top judge.
Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar presented ‘The Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act, 2023’ in parliament on Tuesday night, which was approved by the Cabinet earlier in the evening. “The National Assembly passes ‘The Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill, 2023’,” the lower house announced in a tweet. “It is being said that a constitutional amendment should be made,” Tarar said. “I want them to know there is no need for a constitutional amendment.”
North Waziristan lawmaker Mohsin Dawar introduced amendments which were accepted.Earlier in the day, the Standing Committee on Law and Justice approved the cabinet’s proposed amendments. 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, Dawn newspaper reported.
Regarding suo motu powers, the draft 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.