ISLAMABAD: A full court bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa and comprising 14 judges of the Supreme Court will resume hearing petitions challenging the SC (Practice and Procedure) Act today (Tuesday).
State television PTV is all set to broadcast the hearing of the case live starting at 9:30 am. This would be the second hearing in the case. The full court includes CJP Isa, Sardar Tariq Masood, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Ayesha A. Malik, Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Shahid Waheed and Justice Musarrat Hilali.
At the last hearing, the top court had sought replies from all parties by September 25. In its written reply to the top court, the federal government stated that the judiciary’s freedom was ensured by the SC (Practice and Procedure) Act 2023.
PML-N seeks dismissal of pleas challenging the Act
In its concise statement, the Pakistan Muslim League–Nawaz pleaded with the top court to dismiss the petitions challenging the law clipping Chief Justice of Pakistan’s powers.
At the previous hearing, CJP Isa observed that SC (Practice and Procedure) Act 2023 was not an attempt to clip the top judge’s powers by devolving the suo-moto powers to a three-member committee.
