Pak govt promulgates ordinance giving Chief Justice more powers

Islamabad, Sep 20 (PTI) The Pakistan government on Friday promulgated an ordinance that would give the Chief Justice additional power to appoint cases.
     President Asif Ali Zardari signed the much-debated Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Amendment Ordinance 2024 into law, hours after the Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif approved it.
     The earlier Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act 2023 had diluted the unlimited powers of the chief justice to take suo motu action under Article 184(3) of the Constitution, which empowered the top judge to take legal action on any issue of public interest, and also constitute a panel of judges to hear various cases.
     As per the earlier legislation, a three-member committee comprising the chief justice and two senior-most judges of the Supreme Court was given the authority to decide suo moto cases and also constitute the benches to hear various cases.
     The new ordinance enhanced the powers of the chief justice by instituting that the three-member committee would include the top judge, a senior judge and one judge nominated by the chief justice from time to time.
     Since the committee will decide contentious matters by simple majority, the chief justice will have his way by getting the support of his handpicked members of the panel, experts opine.
     As per the ordinance, each case will be heard on its turn otherwise reason will be furnished for its taking out of turn. “Each case and appeal will be recorded and its transcript will be prepared, which will be available to the public,” it stated.
     Experts opine that apparently, the ordinance aims at empowering Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa to use exclusive power in determining the formation of benches to decide key cases before the end of his tenure next month.
     An ordinance lapses after 120 days if it is not extended for another term by the parliament. It can also become a law if the parliament passes it.
     The ordinance comes amidst an increasing row between the top judiciary and the government due to differences over the allocation of reserved seats to jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) party. The Supreme Court ruled on July 12 that PTI was a parliamentary party and eligible for reserved seats.
     However, the government made changes in the election laws to bar PTI-backed lawmakers who had won as independent candidates to join the party.
     Last week the Supreme Court issued a clarification for the Election Commission of Pakistan to allocate reserve seats but National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq on Thursday wrote a letter to the ECP that PTI was not eligible for those seats after changes in the election laws.
     The issues of reserved seats propped up soon after the February 8 elections when the PTI-supported independent candidates joined the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) but the ECP refused to allot it the reserved seats.
     The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on March 14 rejected the appeal against the ECP ruling.
     In April, the SIC filed a petition before the Supreme Court against the PHC judgment, which on May 6 suspended the PHC judgment as well as the March 1 ECP decision to deprive the SIC of seats reserved for women and minorities.
     Finally, the apex court on July 12 adjudicated in favour of PTI and declared it as a party eligible for reserved seats, but the ECP has so far not fully implemented the verdict.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)