Cabinet asks president to sign SC bill 'immediately'

The federal cabinet requested on Monday that President Dr Arif Alvi must immediately sign the Supreme Court Practice and Procedure Act 2023, in an effort to resolve the country's constitutional and political crisis.

Through the bill, which has already been approved by National Assembly and Senate, the federal government has decided to limit CJP’s powers to take suo motu notice as well as powers to constitute benches on his own in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decision to order elections in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa within 90 days of their dissolution, among other such decisions.

The special meeting of the federal cabinet today was chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at the Prime Minister House, an official statement said.

During the meeting, the ministers discussed a two-point agenda, which included detailed briefings from Minister for Law Senator Azam Nazeer Tarar and Attorney General Mansoor Usman Awan on various matters.

Read more: Justice Isa seeks SC Registrar's removal for discarding his suo motu verdict

The cabinet examined the issuance of a circular by the Registrar Supreme Court that was against the Supreme Court's order. As a result, the cabinet decided to withdraw the services of the Registrar Supreme Court and instructed him to report to the Establishment Division.

It may be noted that Supreme Court Judge Justice Qazi Faez Isa had asked the Establishment Division to immediately relinquish charge of Ishrat Ali, registrar of apex court, for issuing a circular, discarding his judicial order related to suo motu proceedings.

The top court on Friday “disregarded” a judgement authored by Justice Isa, ordering the postponement of suo motu cases till amendments were made in the SC Rules 1980 regarding the discretionary powers of the chief justice to form benches.

Also read: Govt clips top judge’s powers on suo motu, bench constitution

In its circular issued by the Supreme Court Registrar, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial noted that the observations made by the majority judgment in paras 11 to 22 and 26 to 28 were beyond the matter fixed before the court and “invokes its suo motu jurisdiction”.

The SC registrar said that the order violated the rules laid down by a five-member judgement.

In response to the registrar’s circular, Justice Isa asked the establishment division to “recall its officer, Mr Ishrat Ali, to prevent him from further damaging the reputation and integrity of the Supreme Court”.

"And, if you consider appropriate to initiate disciplinary proceedings against him in accordance with the applicable laws as he has apparently violated the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the order of the Supreme Court dated 29 March 2023, passed in Suo Motu Case No. 4 of 2022," the note issued by Justice Isa noted.

The federal cabinet, in an earlier meeting, amended the suo motu powers of the CJP, saying that the top judge of the country can’t automatically initiate suo motu proceedings and proposed that three judges of the Supreme Court would decide if the court should initiate suo motu proceedings in a particular matter.