ISLAMABAD: The federal government moved the apex court on Saturday against petitions challenging the Supreme Court Practice and Procedure Act, 2023, aimed at curtailing the Chief Justice’s powers.
Amir Rehman, Additional Attorney General, submitted the eight-page response to the apex court’s three-member bench hearing the petitions against the law. The government maintained that the bill had become an act of parliament after it was approved in a joint sitting last month.
It added that the instant petitions are an attempt to prevent the independence of the judiciary, advancement of justice, and availing of remedy to people aggrieved of any judgment or order of this honorable court passed under Article 184(3).
Government’s stance
Under the new law, the government said the power to form benches, which is “there to vested in the Chief Justice, is to be exercised by a committee comprising the top judge and the 2 next senior-most judges of the apex court.
The petition said that the Supreme Court rules itself, and the mandate of Article 191 of the constitution, subjects the powers of the Chief Justice to form benches to the law.
Therefore, the government stated there is no bar to prevent the parliament from legislating on the issues contained in the act.
