Chief justice says political parties want ‘pick and choose’ for desired decisions’
ISLAMABAD:
Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial said the political parties want
to “pick and choose” the bench for their “desired judgments”.
The CJP remarked this while resuming hearing on the petitions challenging
the judicial law reforms bill, clipping the CJP’s powers. On Tuesday, the apex court adjourned the hearing after directing all political parties to submit their response in this case.
On Tuesday, an eight-member larger bench of the Supreme Court resumed
hearing of the case. The CJP Umar Ata Bandial-led bench consisted of Justice
Ijaz ul Ahsan, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi,
Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Ayesha A Malik, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar
Rizvi and Justice Shahid Waheed heard the case.
CJP Bandial said the bench will hear everyone after Attorney General for
Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan told the court that some parties in the case
want to address the bench via video link.
The top judge observed that important points, including the independence of the
judiciary, have been pointed out in the case and are “one of a kind”.
“Our stay order of the last hearing is in place. Law related to the Supreme
Court rules are very clear,” said CJP Bandial.
Chief Justice also ordered the parties in the case to submit written
arguments in the case.
He said that the judiciary has “reservations” over the law.
“Democracy is an important part of the Constitution and so is an independent
judiciary and the federation,” the chief justice said and wondered whether the
component of the judiciary can be changed.
The chief justice stressed that independence of the judiciary is a
“fundamental right”.
Earlier, PTI lawyer Khawaja Tariq Rahim said that the judicial reform bill
has become the law.
Responding to this, the Supreme Court sought a record of the debate in the
Parliament and the standing committee on judicial reforms.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the Executive Committee of the Pakistan Bar
Council (PBC) requested the inclusion of senior judges in the bench. The PBC
stated that more than six references have been filed against Justice Mazahar
Ali Naqvi who is part of the bench.
Moreover, an eight-member bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan took up the
Judicial Reforms Bill for hearing today.
Last week, the chief justice constituted the eight-member bench to hear the
case on Tuesday.
Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial will head the eight-member bench.
The Supreme Court, however, has, once again, overlooked the government and the
Parliament’s demand to constitute the full court to hear the case.
The court also issued notices to the Attorney General of Pakistan, the
Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), and the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) in
this case.
Meanwhile, the court also issued notices to the nine political parties
including PML-N,
PPP, PTI, and others.
Importantly, the court had already stopped the implementation of the
Judicial Reforms Bill in the last hearing.
Parliament Joint Session under the chair of National Assembly Speaker Raja
Pervez Ashraf passed The Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023 amid a
ruckus from PTI senators on April 10.
Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar presented the Bill. The joint session passed
the clause-wise approval of the Supreme Court Practice and Procedure Bill,
rejecting the proposal by the Jamaat-e-Islami Senator Mushtaq Ghani.
Many PTI senators protested against the Bill, tore its copies in the House,
and raised slogans against the PDM-led Shehbaz Sharif government.
I am an experienced writer, analyst, and author. My exposure in English journalism spans more than 28 years. In the past, I have been working with daily The Muslim (Lahore Bureau), daily Business Recorder (Lahore/Islamabad Bureaus), Daily Times, Islamabad, daily The Nation (Lahore and Karachi). With daily The Nation, I have served as Resident Editor, Karachi. Since 2009, I have been working as a Freelance Writer/Editor for American organizations.
