ISLAMABAD: Upper House of Parliament passed with majority vote Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023 tabled by Law Minister.

As many as 60 lawmakers voted in favour while 19 senators opposed bill. Opposition lawmakers tore up copies of proposed bill. Bill is aimed at curtailing powers of Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) to take suo motu notice in an individual capacity.

House rejected opposition’s motion for sending bill to standing committee of Senate. Treasury benches moved motion to pass bill immediately which was accepted by House.  In meanwhile, security staff of Senate made protective fence between treasury and opposition lawmakers. After that bill was presented in House for voting. Bill was passed by house with majority votes. PTI Senator Ali Zafar and opposition leader Shahzad Wasim tried to speak but they were not given permission to express their views on bill. Cabinet approved bill on March 28. Later, it was passed by National Assembly on Wednesday. Few amendments were suggested by Standing Committee on Law and Justice earlier. As bill was tabled in Upper House, PTI members put up strong opposition.

Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar, presenting bill in Senate said, “Law can never be stagnant. One has to keep margin for changes in law so that it can function according to needs of people in present.” He said, “Instead of running court through collective thinking, court became dependent on an individual.”

Criticising excessive use of suo motu powers, he said, “Executives were made to stand on rostrum repeatedly. Such suo motu notices were taken that matters of cleaning streets were also brought up.”

He lamented that due to suo motu notices, state had to incur losses worth billions of dollars. He mentioned losses faced by government in Steel Mills and Reko Diq agreement. Liver hospital was an example of excessive use of suo motu powers, he said.

He said voices has arisen from various bar bodies and Senate that “Jurisdiction of Article 106 of Constitution be restructured at least” so that it would reflect “Collective thinking”. Defending need for bill, he said there were demands in recent Senate sessions as well to do legislation to “Solve issue”. He highlighted that two amendments had been suggested by standing committee.  Detailing salient features of bill, he said there had now arisen an opinion from within Supreme Court that power to constitute benches should not lie under one person only. “Only collective thinking takes institutions forward. If we want to strengthen institutions, we should strengthen system instead of personalities so that institution can deliver,” he asserted.

He said bill would solve issues of deciding when certain case had to be fixed for hearing and whether it is of public importance or not. After passage of bill, session was prorogued till today (Friday).

Published in The Daily National Courier, March, 31 2023

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