Bill curbing CJP powers now a law, says minister

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court Practice and Procedure Bill, 2023 became an act of parliament on Thursday and took force.

In a brief chat with The News, Federal Minister for Law and Justice Senator Azam Nazir Tarar confirmed that the bill had become law.

The law paves way for the establishment of a panel of three senior-most judges of the Supreme Court, including the chief justice, to fix benches for taking up different cases.

It is understood that from now onward, Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Qazi Faiz Isa and Justice Sardar Tariq Masood would be constituting the panel till the chief justice’s superannuation.

In case, a member of the panel is absent, the two remaining judges could take a decision since the quorum would be of two judges.

The Supreme Court Practice and Procedure Act, 2023 is in accordance with an old demand of the legal community, which welcomed the legislation, the sources said.

Constitutional experts maintain that the government has ignored the verdict of the eight-member bench that ruled against the law. Incidentally, the constitution of the eight-member bench was also disputed by the legal fraternity. The sources in the National Assembly told The News that a gazette would be issued on Friday (today) to make it a part of the legislation.