PBC, SCBA reject ordinance amending SC practice, procedure law

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) and Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), apex bodies of lawyers, have rejected the promulgation of the ordinance amending the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act 2023, terming the ordinance as bad law, detrimental to the independence of judiciary and protection of fundamental rights.

In separate statements issued here on Saturday, PBC Vice Chairman Farooq H Naek said that the ordinance is an unjust law and violates the democratic procedure for formation of Bench under Section 2 of the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act 2023. “This is a bad law and detrimental to the independence of judiciary and protection of fundamental rights for which Article 184(3) of the Constitution is invoked by an aggrieved person,” Naek said.

Naek said that it was a longstanding demand of the Pakistan Bar Council and legal community that a committee of senior judges should be constituted to decide constitution of benches and fixation of cases, and the Supreme Court Practice and Procedure Act, 2023 was the outcome of the struggle of the legal fraternity and lawyers who welcomed and appreciated when this Act was enacted. “But now amendment to the said Act through the ordinance is a clear defiance of the long-standing struggle of lawyers,” Naek maintained, adding that the legislation had already been upheld by the Supreme Court.

Similarly, SCBA President Muhammad Shahzad Shaukat, along with Secretary Syed Ali Imran, expressed remorse and anguish on the promulgation of the ordinance. The ordinance is a clear defiance of the longstanding struggle of legal fraternity which culminated in the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act 2023. They expressed their deep concern at the timing and manner in which the ordinance had been issued and the fact that it practically amounts to repeal of the Act, which is unacceptable particularly when the said legislation had already been upheld by the Supreme Court.

They said that sacred institutions like parliament and judiciary are on a collision course which is destined to have devastating effects on democracy and supremacy of Constitution, if both sides do not exercise restrain it can derail the whole system.