ISLAMABAD - The Supreme Court of Pakistan will today conduct hearing in petitions against the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill, 2023.
An eight-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Ayesha A Malik, Justice Syed Hassan Azhar Rizvi and Justice Shahid Waheed will conduct hearing of the petitions wherein it had already issued notices to the respondents, Attorney General for Pakistan, two top bodies of lawyers, and the political parties. The bench in its written order had stated that prima faciethe contentions raised disclose that there is a substantial, immediate and direct interference with the independence of the judiciary in the form of multiple intrusions, in the guise of regulating the practice and procedure of this court and conferring upon it a jurisdiction that appears not to be permissible under any constitutional provision. It noted, “Such intermeddling in the functioning of the Court, even on the most tentative assessment, will commence as soon as the Bill becomes the Act. Accordingly, in our view an interim measure ought to be put in place, in the nature of an anticipatory injunction. The making of such an injunction, to prevent imminent apprehended danger that is irreparable, is an appropriate remedy, recognized in our jurisprudence and other jurisdictions that follow the same legal principles and laws. The order added, “It is therefore hereby directed and ordered as follows. The moment that the Bill receives the assent of the President or (as the case may be) it is deemed that such assent has been given, then from that very moment onwards and till further orders, the Act that comes into being shall not have, take or be given any effect nor be acted upon in any manner.”
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