Islamabad: Amid ongoing tussle between Parliament and judiciary, crucial bill regarding right of appeal in suo motu cases sailed through Senate, just days after National Assembly had adopted it via supplementary agenda.

Bill titled Supreme Court (Review of Judgements and Orders) Bill, 2023 was tabled by PML-N’s Irfan Siddiqui and was passed by majority of 32 votes.  Proposed law aims to enlarge top court’s jurisdiction of reviewing its judgments and orders and “Strengthen exercise of this power by Supreme Court”.

Speaking in favour of bill, Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar briefly said that legislation neither disrespected Parliament nor courts. He explained that bill encompassed four sections which were in line with Article 188 of Constitution. “Parliament won’t digress from it by an inch and it won’t step back from it as well,” Tarar added.

Meanwhile, leader of opposition Dr Shahzad Waseem said that government was trying to hide behind Parliament. “Stop playing with Constitution,” he said. “Was Parliament not supreme when Qasim Suri’s ruling was thrown out?” he asked. “Where were these people back then?”

Slamming coalition leaders for disrespecting courts, Waseem said, “Pakistan is functioning without any form of government today.” He also questioned how budget could be passed when “There are no functioning governments in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab”.

Published in The Daily National Courier, May, 06 2023

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