Lawyers to protest if bill on suo motu powers snubbed

The legal fraternity on Saturday warned that if the bill that deprived the country’s top judge of his discretionary powers to initiate suo motu proceedings and form benches on his own was not vested on May 2 (Tuesday), the lawyers would launch a countrywide protest.

The lawyers associations issued the contents of a resolution passed during a convention of the bar councils hosted by the Balochistan Bar Council in Quetta.
The event was presided over by the Pakistan Bar Council and attended by the high-ups or representatives of all the provincial bar councils, high court bar associations and district bar associations,

Earlier in the day, as per the Supreme Court’s roster, the top court will resume hearing the pleas against the SC (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023 on May 2.
In their resolution, the lawyers pointed out that they had been trying for almost a decade to regulate the discretionary powers of the CJP and lauded parliament for passing the law that created a balance among the judiciary.

The resolution read that the convention disapproved the unprecedented pre-emptive interim order passed by an eight-member bench of the SC seeking to prevent the legislation from coming into force.