Speaker office refuses to furnish apex court with parliamentary record

Political matters had polluted the environment of the top court: CJP Bandial

ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – The Speaker office on Tuesday refused to give record of parliamentary proceedings related to law curtailing the chief justice of Pakistan's powers to the Supreme Court. 

Sources said the SC registrar had sought the record on the directions of the eight-member bench hearing the case earlier today (Tuesday). “The SC registrar had written to the Speaker office to furnish record of the last five assembly proceedings and that of the Senate’s standing committee on finance,” sources added. The last five NA sessions had been summoned on April 6, 10, 17, 26, and 27. 

Earlier, the Supreme Court had sought parliamentary record regarding the law that aims at curtailing the powers of the chief justice of Pakistan. 

An eight-member bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Muneeb Akhtar, Justice Mazahir Naqvi, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Ayesha Malik, Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi and Justice Shahid Waheed, heard the petitions filed under Article 184(3) of the Constitution against the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023, aimed at curtailing the CJP's power to take suo motu notice. 

The bill aims at curtailing the powers of the CJP regarding taking suo motu notice under clause (3) of Article 184 of the constitution. It further stated that any matter invoking the exercise of original jurisdiction under clause 3 of Article 184 of the constitution should first be placed before the committee for examination, and if the committee reckoned that if a question of public importance concerning enforcement of any of the fundamental rights was involved, it should constitute a bench comprising not less than three judges of the apex court that might include the members of the committee for adjudication of the matter.

On April 14,the apex court halted the implementation of the bill until further order despite it had not become an act of Parliament at that time. 

Tuesday's hearing was attended by Barrister Salahuddin, who represented the PML-N, while Farooq H. Naek appeared on behalf of the PPP. Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) lawyer Hassan Raza Pasha also attended the hearing.

At the outset of the hearing, CJP Bandial said the top court had issued an interim order in the previous hearing, adding that independent judiciary was a key component of the Constitution. He said the case taken up by the court was related to the independence of the judiciary. 

He also expected that all parties would submit serious arguments in the case. “It is the first of its kind law in Pakistan,” he remarked about the bill. 

The CJP said allegations were being made that a fundamental component of the Constitution had been violated through this legislation for the first time in the history of Pakistan. 

At one point, the PBC lawyer pleaded the CJP to form a larger bench to hear the case and sought exclusion of Justice Naqvi from the bench as several references had been filed against him. 

Rejecting the plea for formation of the larger bench for the time being, CJP Bandial remarked that it was his prerogative to constitute benches. He further said no judge could be excluded from the bench on the basis that a reference had been filed against him. He said complaints against judges including him came from time to time but it didn’t mean: “We cannot hear the cases”.

Later, the court sought the parliamentary record of the law and summoned reply from all parties and lawyer bodies till May 8.