On Tuesday, a full court bench — headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa and comprising 14 judges of the Supreme Court — on Tuesday resumed hearing petitions challenging the controversial curtailing of the powers of the country’s top judge.
State-run PTV News is televising the proceedings of the case.
CJP Isa heads the full court bench and 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.
At the last hearing, the apex court’s full court had sought replies from all parties by September 25.
At the outset of the hearing, CJP Isa said the apex court would try to conclude the hearing of the case today (Tuesday).
The CJP said many cases are already pending in the Supreme Court, and the court must spend only a little time on one point.
He also directed the petitioner’s counsel to complete his arguments in 10 minutes.
CJP Isa said the chief justice’s powers are not being curtailed through this legislation. Instead, they are being distributed among the judges.
He said the impact of this law will be mainly on the chief justice and the other two senior judges.
‘Parliament bulldozed judiciary’s independence
Presenting his arguments, the petitioner’s lawyer, Ikram Chaudhry, said parliament bulldozed the independence of the judiciary through the Practice Act.
“Parliament tried to breach jurisdiction through the Act,” he added.
Lawyer Chaudhry also pointed out that reviewing the parliament’s situation was imperative when it passed the act.
“Will you base your arguments on newspaper reports?” the CJP said.
The lawyer said they did not have a record of parliament’s proceedings.
“Did you request the speaker in writing to provide you with the record of the proceedings?” the CJP inquired.
CJP Isa also told the council to avoid political discussion in the court after the latter read the former prime minister’s statement before the bench.
“Don’t do politics here; media is present. Go and do politics there,” the CJP remarked.
The CJP said some people believed that the Supreme Court and parliament have come face to face over this law.
“I will not use the word war,” the CJP remarked.
