Islamabad: The Supreme Court on Tuesday adjourned hearing on petitions against Practice and Procedure Act till October 9.
A full court bench of the top court headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faiz Esa and comprising Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, Justice Ijaz Ul 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 resumed proceedings on petitions against SC Practice and Procedure Act 2023.
The proceedings of the case broadcasted live by state-run Pakistan Television (PTV).
During the hearing, CJP Isa remarked the apex court will try to conclude hearings of the case today.
The CJP said many cases are already pending in the Supreme Court and the court cannot spend too much time on one case.
CJP Isa said the powers of the chief justice are not being curtailed through this legislation rather they are being distributed among the judges.
“On one hand, the CJP’s powers, if not being limited, are being reduced. On the other, the same powers are being distributed among senior judges,” he said.
At the last hearing, the apex court's full court had sought replies from all parties by September 25.
Before hearing the petitions related to the Supreme Court Practice and Procedure Act, the parties have submitted written responses to the Supreme Court. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has requested to declare the act null and void in its written responses.
PTI has submitted additional documents to the Supreme Court and requested to make them part of the record.
The document states that the Practice and Procedure Act is against the independence of the judiciary.
In the presence of the Supreme Court Rules 1980, legislation relating to the Supreme Court cannot be made.
In response to the questions submitted on the court order, the government says that the suspension of the law by the 8-member bench was unconstitutional when the former Chief Justice suspended the law and constituted a bench and gave the decision.
Full Court Bench of Supreme Court till now has already conducted one, and the larger bench has conducted 5 hearings of this case previously.
The larger bench has already ordered the injunction on the law in the first hearing on April 13, the case was also taken up for hearing on May 2, May 8, June 1 and June 8.
It should be noted that under the Practice and Procedure Act, the authority to form a bench has been given to a committee of 3 senior judges.
The committee has also been empowered to appoint cases for hearing and to receive applications.
The aggrieved party is also given the right to appeal within one month, to change the lawyer.
