ISLAMABAD, Apr 13 (APP): Federal Minister for Law and Justice Senator Azam Nazeer Tarar on Thursday urged Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial to dissolve the larger bench hearing pleas, seeking cancellation of ‘Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill, 2023’.
In a press conference, flanked by Adviser to Prime Minister on Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit Baltistan Qamar Zaman Kaira, Kamran Murtaza of the JUI, ANP leader Mian Iftikhar Hussain, MQM-Pakistan (MQM-P) Syed Aminul Haque, Senator Tahir Bizenjo of BNP, the law minister termed the current situation alarming and said that a “selective bench has been formed”.
He said that two senior judges had not been included in the bench. “There is lack of representation from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan among the judges on the bench,” he added.
The minister was of the view that a conflict of interest existed as the case involved the question of the chief justice using his own powers in taking suo motu notices and constituting benches.
He claimed that all the rules of the apex court prohibited the chief justice from leading the bench. All provincial bar councils had unanimously expressed their disagreement with the current bench, he added.
He said that Pakistan Bar Council, Sindh Bar Council, Balochistan Bar Council, Punjab Bar Council, Islamabad Capital Territory Bar Council and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council boycotted the eight-member bench constituted to hear the pleas against the bill which was yet to be enacted.
He said that Parliament had the authority to legislate for the betterment of the people and this right could not be taken away by preventing the Parliament from legislating. He said there were no past precedents that the matter was brought before the Supreme Court before it was enacted as a law.
The minister said that all the coalition partners agreed that it was not the right time to take up pleas against the bill as it had not yet been legislated.
Meanwhile, the minister urged to constitute a full-court bench to hear the case so that collective wisdom should prevail. He said that the coalition parties, bar councils from across the country and legal fraternity had repeatedly asked the CJP to form a full court bench to hear the case.
