SC judge reiterates call for full court on NAB laws case

CJ says Practice and Procedure Act intervened in top court’s administrative affairs

ISLAMABAD:

Supreme Court Justice Mansoor Ali Shah once against requested Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial on Tuesday to decide the matter of Supreme Court Practice and Procedure Act or form the full court on the petition against the recent amendments to the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO).

Sitting on three-member special bench, led by Chief Justice Bandial, Justice Shah raised the question whether the NAO amendments case should be heard in the presence of an injunction on a law, or a full court should be constituted.

At the outset of the hearing, the chief justice remarked that he had been hearing this case for a long time and that a judge had referred to the Practice and Procedure Act case. However, the government’s counsel backed Justice Shah's request.

“The Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) had spoken of inconsistencies between the SC (the Practice and Procedure) law and the SC (Review of Judgment) Law, on June 1, 2023. The AGP had asked for some time and on June 8, 2023,” the chief justice observed.

He added that the AGP had also said that the parliament would correct the law after the budget session. “I am unaware what the current (interim) government’s stance on the matter is,” he said, asking whether the court should delay all cases in light of a suspended law, or continue its work.

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Advocate Makhdoom Ali Khan said that the court should be very careful before declaring any law invalid. He added that until a law was revised, it remained in force. However, the chief justice emphasised that the court had not declared any law invalid.

Khan said that an order or action might be suspended, but the law could not, adding that the implementation of a law could not be stopped. The chief justice said that the Practice and Procedure Act intervened in the administrative affairs of the Supreme Court.

He added that a remedy was given by law, which was not available in the Constitution. The chief justice told the lawyer if he wanted the court would hear him in the Practice and Procedure Act case. But, he added, “the question is whether the Supreme Court stop its work?”

Justice Shah asked whether the case should be heard in the presence of the injunction or whether a full court should be constituted. “I request the chief justice of Pakistan to give a decision” on the Practice and Procedure Act, or the Supreme Court should constitute a full court on NAB amendments case.

Khan said that “we also have the same request”. Speaking on the NAO amendments, Khan also mentioned the previous powers of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). He added there was no precedent anywhere in the world when a law had been invalidated only because it reduced punishment.