In response to the Supreme Court’s decision to halt the implementation of a bill limiting the Chief Justice of Pakistan’s (CJP) discretionary powers, the Parliament has fought back with another bill regulating suo motu litigation.
The government had convened a National Assembly sitting ahead of schedule and approved a bill regulating suo motu litigations and passed two resolutions targeting the judiciary for “exceeding its institutional mandate”.
Amid institutional wrangling, an eight-member larger bench of the Supreme Court had preemptively barred the implementation of the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023 that limits the Chief Justice of Pakistan’s discretionary powers.
The move was widely criticised by the coalition government, as well as the legal fraternity.
In response, the government convened a National Assembly sitting and passed a bill, titled the Supreme Court (Review of Judgements and Orders) Bill, 2023.
Tabled by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s Shaza Fatima Khawaja, the bill was aimed at “facilitating and strengthening the Supreme Court in exercising its powers to review its judgements and orders”.
If the bill is passed, it will give the right of appeal to the aggrieved party in suo motu cases. The review petition would be heard by a larger bench than the original one, Express Tribune reported.
According to the bill, any individual who files a review petition can be allowed to hire the services of a lawyer of their choice rather than the current policy of utilising the same lawyer who had argued the initial case.
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