NA passes judicial reforms bill to curtail CJP's suo moto powers

National Assembly Wednesday passed the judicial reforms bill tabled in the House under the title of The Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023.

To curtail the powers of the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP), the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill was introduced in the House after getting approval from the relevant standing committee.

After passing the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023 in which the right to appeal against the decisions on the Suo Motu notices has also been given to the parties.

So now the former Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif, Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, and other affected parties by the decisions of the Suo Motu notice cases will be able to avail the right of appeal.

According to the 24News HD TV channel, the judicial reforms bill split the PTI lawmakers on whether to support or oppose the legislation.

PTI legislators opposed the bill while renegade members supported the legislation. Leader of the Opposition Raja Riaz threw his weight behind the judicial reforms bill, saying the legislation was jointly moved by the government and the Opposition.

Another PTI rebel MNA Ahmad Hussain Dahar extended congratulations to the movers of the bill. “Being a lawyer myself I must say this was our old demand. I will salute all if this legislation becomes a law,” he added.

Earlier, National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Law has approved the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023.

The NA committee on Wednesday gave its assent to the legislation by incorporating three amendments in it.

On Tuesday, National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf had referred the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023 to the committee of the House for consideration.

Federal Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar had tabled the bill in the House and addressed the legislators about the harmful practices of the suo-motu notices in the past.

Addressing the House, the law minister said in the past the Supreme Court took four 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.

Earlier, the federal cabinet had also approved the Supreme Court Amendment Bill 2023 paving way for handing over the suo-motu powers to a senior judges' committee.

The cabinet also decided to grant a right of appeal on suo-motu. It is proposed in the bill that 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.

Law for judicial reforms should have been passed earlier: Azam Tarar

While commenting on the passing of a motion on voting for the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023 in the National Assembly, Federal Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar Wednesday said on the floor of the assembly that law for the judicial reforms should have been passed earlier as Bilawal Bhutto rightly remarked, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

“All the bar councils of Pakistan have praised this law,” the law minister said, adding that approval of 47 laws in two hours was part of the history.

“There was a full court bench four years ago. The formation of three-member bench created problems repeatedly. The Parliament will fulfil its responsibility to remove the ambiguity,” he stated.

MNA Mohsin Dawar moved an amendment to the bill. Section-by-section approval of the bill continued in the National Assembly till the filing of the report.

Reporter Usman Khan