Senate passes judicial reform bill amid PTI protest.

ISLAMABAD -- The Senate on ThursAday passed the SuApreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill, 2023 aimed at curtailAing discretionary powAers of the Chief Justice of Pakistan in initiatAing suo motu cases, constituting benchAes, and allocating cases amid protest of the opAposition Pakistan TehAreek: e: Insaf (PTI).

The house passed the bill by a majority of 60: 19 without sending it to the standing committee concerned.

The bill moved by Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar also proposes givAing right to appeal in all suo motu cases with retArospective effect.

A day earlier, the NaAtional Assembly had passed the bill while inAcorporating last minute changes proposed by the standing committee on law and justice. The bill will soon become an act of the parliament if PresAident Dr Arif Alvi gave its final consent on it.

PTI protested over the proposed legislaAtion terming it an 'asAsault on judiciary' and 'attempt to amend the constitution through simple legislation.' PTI lawmakers chanted slogans and tore up copies of the agenda and tossed the same in the air all around. Some of them had brought with themselves placards inscribed with slogans like 'attack on juAdiciary unacceptable.'

Law Minister Senator Tarar talking about the salient features of the bill said it proposed constitution of the benches and allocation of cases by a committee comprising Chief Justice and two senior most judges. 'Such a law was the longAstanding demand of the bar councils and lawyers bodies.'

He went on to say that a new trend was seen in the Supreme Court in the past two decades that the apex court became dependent on an individual instead it performed functions through collecAtive wisdom. He criticized the excesAsive use of suo motu powers by saying it was against the concept of trichotomy of powers enshrined in the Constitution.

'The state had incurred losses amountAing to billions of dollars because of suo: motu notices,' he said while referAring to the Reko Diq project. He said that the bill also proposed that the SC would take up the cases of important nature within 14 days as they used to be kept pending for many months in the past.

Senator Tarar indirectly referring to CJP remarked the bill was aimed at bringing to an end an absolute monopoAly of an individual.

Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Dr Shahzad Waseem while responding to the government said that the bill was a direct attack on the independence of juAdiciary. He said that the bill was aimed at...

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