Islamabad: A law that will restrict the Supreme Court chief justice's ability to issue suo moto notice in an individual capacity and give that authority to a three-judge committee of senior judges was approved by Pakistan's National Assembly.
The Senate, the upper chamber, will now consider the SC (Practice and Procedure) Bill, 2023, which was supposed to happen last week. The lower house is the National Assembly. The law was developed and advanced by the eight-party coalition government of PM Shehbaz Sharif after two judges on a five-judge SC panel questioned the chief justice's authority while debating a PTI petition challenging the Punjab electoral commission's decision to postpone voting in the province. The judges had said the top court “cannot be dependent on the solitary decision of one man, the chief justice”.
The situation began in April of last year when Imran and his government were overthrown in a National Assembly vote of no confidence. Imran then launched a nationwide campaign to call for urgent national elections. The Campaign failed to move the government and Imran reacted by dissolving the PTI governed assemblies in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces this January. It was a pressure tactic as the constitution mandates elections within 90 days of an assembly’s dissolution.