SC fixes for hearing pleas challenging law curtailing apex court’s power on 8th

Supreme Court Saturday fixed the hearing of petitions for June 8, seeking the court to set aside incumbent government legislation ‘Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act 2023’. An eight-member larger bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial will hear the petitions on June 08.

Earlier, the top adjourned the case on June 01 where Pakistan Tehreek-e-insaf (PTI) had submitted a reply to the Supreme Court in the case challenging the practice and procedure law. The PTI had urged the Supreme Court to declare the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Law 2023 null and void.

The law should be declared unconstitutional, the petitioner pleaded, adding clauses 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8 of the Act should be declared illegal. The Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) law was against the independence of the judiciary.

It is pertinent to mention that three days ago, Supreme Court Bar Association President Abid Zuberi had stated that parliament limited the judicial authority by enacting the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023, adding the law was against the constitutional principles. Mr Zuberi said this in his written response he submitted to the Supreme Court. Under Article 191, the Supreme Court had the exclusive power to amend the rules, the response said. Meanwhile, the government taking a significant step towards implementing the Supreme Court Review of Judgments and Orders Act 2023, issued a gazette notification, marking the official commencement of the Act.