National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf Tuesday referred to the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023 to the concerned committee of the House for consideration.
Federal Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar presented the bill in the House and addressed the legislators about the bad practices of the Suo-Motu notices in the past.
Addressing the House, the law minister said in the past, the Supreme Court took 4 Suo-Motu notices in a day on administrative matters while there has been a lot of criticism regarding the rules of the apex court of the country.
The law minister in favour of the bill said some Suo-Motu notices in the past did not lead to an increase in the respect of the institution and the decisions of many notices have affected the sanctity of the SC.
Earlier today, the federal cabinet approved the Supreme Court Amendment Bill 2023 to hand over the Suo-Motu powers to the senior judges' committee.
According to the 24News HD TV channel, the cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also decided to grant a right of the appeal on Suo-Motu too.
It is proposed in the bill that the three senior-most judges of the Supreme Court will decide the Suo-Motu notice.
While there is also a proposal to grant a right to file an appeal within 30 days against the Suo-Motu decision and the appeal should be fixed for hearing within 14 days of its filing.
Just before starting the meeting, the bureaucracy was told to go out of the meeting hall and a one-point agenda came under consideration by the cabinet.
Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, Attorney General Mansoor Usman Awan, Rana Tanveer Hussain and other ministers also participated in the meeting.
PPP's Shazia Marri also tried to join the cabinet meeting but security staff stopped her to enter the meeting hall with her purse and digital devices. In response to it, she returned angrily by saying, 'Her absent should be marked'.