KARACHI: Those in the PTI opposing the Supreme Court Practice & Procedure Act may want to rethink their stance after the Supreme Court’s reserved seats case verdict.
In a post on X (Twitter) on Saturday, former president of the Sindh High Court Bar Association Barrister Salahuddin Ahmed pointed this out, writing that: “In rightful celebration of [the] SC judgment, I wonder if some PTI friends [are] now reviewing their opposition to the SC Practice & Procedure Act [and] support for [the] CJP’s God-given right to form benches.”
For context, the SC (Practice & Procedure) Act, 2023 has provided a transparent process for the formation of benches for hearing crucial constitutional issues. It also says that a decision to take up a matter suo-motu would be made by a three-member bench, comprising the CJP and the two senior-most judges of the apex court -- instead of this power being solely held by the CJP. The law also gives parties the right to appeal to the Supreme Court within 30 days of a final order from a lower court.
Why this becomes important in the current scenario is because Friday’s reserved seats verdict was given by a full-court bench, and the CJ was not in majority. CJP Qazi Faez Isa had openly supported the Practice & Procedure law even after he became the chief justice.
Salahuddin noted in his post on X that upholding the Supreme Court Practice & Procedure Act is “one of [the] great legacies of [the] QFI court even as it left him a minority in the SC.”He recalled that the last CJP who was in “minority in a major constitutional case was Nasir ul Mulk in [the] 21st Amendment case. CJPs after that (especially Saqib Nisar & Bandial) just formed humkhayal benches so they were never in minority.”
According to Salahuddin Ahmed, “structural reform should not be sacrificed at [the] altar of political expediency. Allowing CJPs to dominate the court through bench/case fixation was a bad idea then and now. Regardless of who is CJP.”
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