Islamabad: Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan on Monday resumed hearing of various pleas against Practice and Procedure Act 2023, with Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faiz Isa leading the full court bench and presiding over the proceedings.
The hearing is being streamed on live TV transmission, in accordance with SC previous directives.
The SC full court bench headed by CJP Qazi Faiz Isa, includes Justice 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.
Attorney General, Muslim League-N and Muslim League-Q lawyers and other remaining petitioners will present their arguments. In the last two hearings, the arguments of the lawyers of the 5 petitioners have been completed.
All the parties have submitted their written answers and arguments in the court, if the arguments of the lawyers are completed, the hearing is likely to be completed today.
It is important to remember that the Chief Justice has also indicated to complete the case on October 9.
The Full Court Bench of the Supreme Court led by CJP Qazi Faiz Isa has so far conducted 2 hearings and the Larger Bench led by former CJP Umar Atta Bandiyal had 5 hearings of this case.
In April, the then former CJP Umar Ata Bandial, barred the government from implementing the bill seeking to curtail the chief justice of Pakistan’s powers once it became a law.
It should be noted that under the Practice and Procedure Act, the committee of 3 senior judges has been given the authority to form a bench under the Practice and Procedure Act. Right, also allowed to change counsel, right to appeal against past decisions in automatic notice cases.