SC forms larger bench to hear plea challenging SC Practice, Procedure Bill

ISLAMABAD (APP): The Supreme Court on Wednesday formed a larger bench of the apex court to hear the case seeking setting aside the Supreme Court Practice and Procedure Bill 2023.
The eight-member SC larger bench comprising Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Ayesha A Malik, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi and Justice Shahid Waheed would hear the case on Friday.
Agenies add: Notably missing from the bench are Justices Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Aminuddin Khan who had earlier ruled that the CJP did not have the power to make special benches or decide its members and ordered the postponement of all suo motu matters. The order was later recalled by a six-member larger bench. Justice Isa, in a judicial note, later said that the bench did not “constitute a constitutional court”.
The cause list issued today showed that three petitions have been filed under Article 184(3) of the Constitution by Advocate Muhammad Shafay Mu­nir, Raja Amer Khan, Chaudhry Ghulam Hussain and others.
Article 184(3) of the Constitution sets out the SC’s original jurisdiction, and enables it to assume jurisdiction in matters involving a question of “public importance” with reference to the “enforcement of any of the fundamental rights” of Pakistan’s citizens. The petition filed by Advocate Mu­nir insisted that the plea had been filed to safeguard and secure the Constitution and independence of the judiciary.
He contended that the petitioner believed in the su­­p­remacy of the Constitution, the rule of law, and independence of the judiciary and had always strived and struggled to protect the Constitution, independence of the judiciary and fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution. The respondents named in the petition included the federal government through the secretaries of law, Senate and National Assembly.
After the pleas were fixed for hearing, PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry tweeted: “Now that the chief justice of Pakistan has formed a bench comprising a majority of judges of the Supreme Court, people who considered a larger bench a solution to problems will hopefully be satisfied.”
Meanwhile, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Interior and PML-N leader Attaullah Tarar said, “Fixing a law that has not been enforced yet for hearing before a like-minded bench at a lightning speed is an insult to parliament.”