ISLAMABAD
\nThe Supreme Court of Pakistan on Tuesday adjourned the hearing of petitions challenging the SC (Practice and Procedure) Act till tomorrow 11 am (October 11).
\nThe hearing was broadcast live on state-run PTV, allowing the nation to witness the proceedings and the arguments presented by the lawyers.
\nAfter assuming charge as the chief justice, CJP Isa had ordered the hearing to be live-streamed and had implicitly vacated the April 13 suspension of the enforcement of the SC Practice and Proce\u00addure Act.
\nDuring the hearing, Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Qazi Faez Isa has barred fellow judges sitting on the full court from asking questions during the hearing of nine challenges to the Supreme Court (Practice & Procedure) Act, 2023, which is being streamed live on national television.
\nThe 15-member full court was conducting the fourth hearing on Tuesday and at the start of every hearing the CJP had declared that the court will wrap up the case today but it could not do so due to time constraints, partly due to lengthy arguments being presented by the counsels and the frequent interruptions by the judges, putting up queries which led to hearing being adjourned.
\nAs the proceedings were set into motion on Tuesday, the CJP interrupted the arguments himself this time restraining his colleagues from asking questions until the arguments are complete.
\nWhen Justice Ijazul Ahsan tried to pop a question, Justice Isa directed the counsel not to answer it and focus on his arguments. \u201cThis is the fourth hearing of this and case and other cases are being delayed due to it,\u201d the CJP added.
\nJustice Isa urged his colleagues to halt their questions. \u201cEveryone on the bench wants to fire a query but let the lawyer complete his argument,\u201d he remarked.
\nThe CJP also stopped Justice Munib Akhtar from asking questions again and again. Justice Munib Akhtar responded, saying \u201cI am also a judge of this court and asking questions is a right of the judge,\u201d he hit back.
\nJustice Isa \u201cYou should field your questions when the arguments will conclude.\u201d
\nThen, Justice Akhtar said \u201cI regret that I am being interrupted again and again.\u201d
\nIgnoring CJP\u2019s directive, Justice Munib Akhtar went ahead with his question, asking the lawyer to just tell him as to what Article 191 means?
\nThe Chief Justice remarked that he is not interrupting the question. He asked his fellow judges to listen to the lawyer and then the questions would be answered, we should write the decision instead of giving an opinion beforehand.
\nMuttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan\u2019s (MQM-P) lawyer Faisal Siddiqui said that Parliament cannot legislate to curtail the powers of the Supreme Court, but this principle is not affected by the existing law.
\nJustice Ijazul Ahsan said that the Act interfered with the independence of the Supreme Court. He wanted the lawyer to answer whether the law has interfered with the internal working of the Supreme Court.
\nJustice Munib Akhtar asked whether the legislative entries give the Parliament supervisory powers over the Supreme Court.
\nLawyer Siddiqui said that they could read \u201csubject to\u201d and \u201claw\u201d separately.
\nJustice Ahsan asked why the Constitution has said that judiciary, executive and legislative are separate.
\nSiddiqui said that the Act does not interfere in the internal working of the Supreme Court. The Parliament does not enact such legislation which bars the Supreme Court from making its rules, he added.
\nJustice Ahsan remarked that the Parliament violated all the constitutional limits while enacting this Act.
\nQureshi said that he would explain that no violation has been committed by describing all the clauses that would be read together with the Act. He said that Parliament could supervise the parliament.
\nJustice Ahsan interjected remarking that supervising means to get control of the Supreme Court.
\nQureshi said that even Parliament has limits to it supervisory role.
\nJustice Munib inquired whether the legislative entries give supervisory authority to the Parliament over the Supreme Court.
\nJustice Mansoor Ali Shah remarked that if Article 191 is read in conjunction with Legislative Entry 58, Parliament had complete power to legislate.
\nHe said that Salahuddin gave this reference that the Parliament could even abolish the Supreme Court rules. The law says that the appeal would be sent to a larger bench, but the question is will this larger bench consist of all new judges? Will a larger bench be made by adding new judges to the bench which heard the case in the first place, Justice Shah asked.
\nThe full court could not complete the hearing on Tuesday as well and the proceedings were adjourned for Wednesday at 11:30 am.
\nEarlier in the day, the Supreme Court resumed hearing a set of petitions challenging the SC (Practice and Procedure) Act seeking to scuttle the powers of the chief justice of Pakistan. A 15-judge Full Court led by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa is hearing the case.
\nThe attorney general, lawyers of the Pakistan Bar Council, and others are supposed to present their arguments on the case.
\nAt every previous proceeding, Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa expressed his resolve to conclude the case but the case was prolonged and the proceedings still linger.
\nSo far, the Full Court has conducted three, while the larger bench led by former chief justice Umar Ata Bandial held five hearings of the case.
\nIn a pre-emptive move, the SC larger bench ordered a ban on the law in the first hearing on April 13.
\nUnder the act, the authority of taking suo motu notices and formation of benches has been assigned to a bench consisting of three senior judges including the chief justice of Pakistan. The affected party will also be given the right of appeal in the Review plea within a month, and it could also be allowed to change its lawyer. The law gives the right of appeal in Review pleas with retrospective effect.
\nDuring yesterday\u2019s hearing, Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa expressed his exasperation over the submission of additional documents. He remarked that since today was the last day of the hearing, any submissions could have been done before.
\nThe top judge fumed as to how the justice system would run like this. He said nowhere in the world such things happen.
\nCJP Isa observed that parliament must not be hindered from doing something good only because it lacks a two-thirds majority. He further remarked that the Parliament passed the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act 2023 with good intentions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Tuesday adjourned the hearing of petitions challenging the SC (Practice and Procedure) Act till tomorrow 11 am (October 11). The hearing was broadcast live on state-run PTV, allowing the nation to witness the proceedings and the arguments presented by the lawyers. After assuming charge as the chief justice, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-360790","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n