Pakistan govt files plea in SC to hear petitions challenging act curtailing chief justice's powers

Islamabad [Pakistan], May 7 (ANI): The Pakistan federal government on Saturday filed a plea in the Supreme Court to form a full court bench to hear the petitions challenging the Supreme Court Practice and Procedure Bill 2023 that aims to curb the powers of the chief justice of Pakistan's (CJP), Dawn reported.
The bill has become an act of Parliament and three petitions have been filed against it by Advocate Muhammad Shafay Munir, Raja Amer Khan, Chaudhry Ghulam Hussain and others, as per the Dawn report.
The bill proposes taking away the powers of the chief justice to initiate suo motu proceedings and vest them in a panel which includes the Chief Justice of Pakistan and two senior-most judges of the apex court.
The bill seeks the right to appeal suo motu decisions. Actions on the bill were frozen by the court even before the bill became law in April, as per the news report. The Pakistan government filed an application requesting the court that a full court hear the petitions since the matter raises "a number of very important constitutional questions," including the independence of the judiciary and powers of the parliament to regulate the practice of the Supreme Court.
In the plea, Pakistan's government said, "However considering the paramount importance of the constitutional questions involved and the fact that it is a case of first impression, the fairest and most transparent course of proceeding [...] would be if it's heard by all the honourable judges of the Supreme Court," as per the Dawn report.
The plea said that the issue must be addressed by the full court and even mentioned the cases concerning the judiciary's independence. The plea concluded that the request was made in the best interest of justice and fairness, as per the news report.
The plea said the Supreme Court had always "frowned upon" any encroachment in the domains of the three state pillars, concluding that "the prayer was made in the best interest of justice and fairness," according to Dawn report.
The petition said that since the Supreme Court Practice and Procedure Bill 2023, which was now an act, had vested the power of bench formation to senior apex court judges and stressed that it was "most appropriate" that petitions challenging it be heard and decided by a full court.
Earlier in April, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif criticised the Supreme Court's order to render a bill curbing the powers of the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) as ineffective after it becomes law, Dawn reported.
He stressed that such an example did not exist in the entire world. Speaking at the launch ceremony of the Constitution's mobile app in Islamabad, Shehbaz Sharif said, "There is no example in the world where the parliament's law which had not even come into existence right now and not taken its applicable shape was issued a stay order upon", Dawn reported.
On March 30, Pakistan Senate passed the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023, which aims to curtail the office of the CJP of powers to take suo motu notice in an individual capacity. However, Pakistan President Arif Alvi on April 8 returned the bill. (ANI)