Information Minister Ataullah Tarar said on Friday that President Asif Ali Zardari had signed the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Amendment Ordinance 2024, which amends a law that curtails the power of Supreme Court judges to form panels of judges, state-run Radio Pakistan reported.
In October 2023, the Supreme Court upheld the SC (Practice and Procedure) Act, 2023, which was enacted to regulate the work of the Supreme Court.
The law, passed by Parliament in April 2023, stipulates that a three-member bench consisting of the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) and the top court’s two most senior judges will decide whether to hear a case on its own motion.
Previously, this was the sole prerogative of the Supreme Court.Furthermore, the Supreme Court’s power of review has been expanded, and in cases of ex parte actions, there is a right to file an appeal within 30 days of the decision.
The petitioners viewed the law as an attempt by the government to restrict the powers of the Chief Justice.
According to Radio Pakistan, the information minister said today, following approval of the ordinance by the federal cabinet, that the president had approved the amendments to the law “to serve the public interest and enhance transparency in the judicial process.”
Elaborating on the amendments to the ordinance, Tarar said the first cases brought to the court would be the first to be heard.
He submitted that there is also a right of appeal against a decision passed by the Supreme Court in a case under Article 184(3).
Article 184(3) of the Constitution provides for the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, enabling it to have jurisdiction over matters involving questions of “public importance” relating to the “enforcement of fundamental rights” of Pakistanis.
The information minister said records of hearings in each case would also be prepared and made public, “which would further enhance transparency in the judicial process,” the report added.
He said the committee, chaired by a Supreme Court judge, a Senior Division Bench Judge and a Third Class High Judge, was constituted under the Practice and Procedure Act but under the ordinance, a Supreme Court judge will be the chairman and the other two members will be a Senior Division Bench Judge (presently Justice Mansoor Ali Shah) and another Third Class High Judge.
“The Supreme Court justices will nominate one of the Supreme Court justices as a member of this committee from time to time,” Tarar added.
He said the case was delayed due to the absence of the third member of the committee in Islamabad.
Tarar said the Supreme Court’s review of the case on the interpretation of Article 63-A is pending till now. He said the review of the case is an important issue and hence a decision should be taken.
“All these reforms and amendments have been made keeping in mind the interest of the common people,” he said.
According to the ordinance, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, the Supreme Court committee responsible for the selection of judges will not currently be made up of Justice Munib Akhtar, the third-senior judge, but rather will consist of the Chief Justice, a Senior Division Bench Judge and such other Supreme Court judges as may be nominated by the Chief Justice from time to time.
Justice Akhtar was part of the Supreme Court majority that in July breathed new life into the PTI by declaring it eligible to reserve seats for women and non-Muslims in national and provincial assemblies, declaring it a parliamentary party. He and Justice Mansoor Ali Shah also decided that the PML-N’s petition seeking to set aside a brief July 12 order in the seat reservation case would be dealt with after the summer vacation, allowing all 13 judges involved in the original judgement to sit at the main headquarters in Islamabad.
According to the minutes of the committee’s 17th meeting held on July 18, Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa dissented from the majority opinion of the two judges.
With regard to unique notices, the ordinance states that the court hearing such matters “shall determine and specify through a reasoned oral order the issues of public importance involved and the fundamental rights sought to be enforced.”
With regard to applications for resolution of urgent matters, the ordinance states: “Except where a transparent standard has already been stated or the applicable law requires a decision to be given within a prescribed time, all suits, matters or appeals before the Supreme Court shall be heard in order on the basis of first come, first served basis, i.e., the case filed first shall be heard first. Any judge hearing a case out of turn shall record his reasons.”
Later the same day, according to an order from the Supreme Court, a copy of which is available on Dawn.com, Chief Justice Isa appointed Justice Aminuddin Khan as the third member of the committee that will decide the composition of the bench following changes made by the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Amendment Ordinance, 2024, replacing Justice Akhtar as the third member.
Justice Aminuddin Khan delivered the minority opinion along with Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan which dismissed the Sunni Ittehad Council’s appeal in the reservation seats case and denied the allocation of seats.
