SC hears pleas against bill ‘clipping’ CJP’s powers today

ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

The larger bench of the Supreme Court (SC), comprising eight judges, will take up three identical petitions against the recently passed bill seeking to curtail suo moto powers of the chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) on Thursday (today).

The Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023, aims at ‘clipping’ the powers of the office of the Chief Justice of Pakistan.

The bill was initially passed by both houses of parliament and subsequently sent to the President for his assent. He, however, sent it back, saying that the proposed law is “beyond the competence of parliament”.

On Monday, the government convened a joint session of the parliament to pass the bill with certain amendments, amid strong opposition by the PTI lawmakers. According to the roster issued on Wednesday, the eight-member bench is comprised of: CJP Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Sayyad Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Ayesha Malik, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi and Justice Shahid Waheed.

Both Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Aminuddin Khan are not part of bench who have earlier ruled that the CJP did not have the power to make special benches or decide its members and ordered the postponement of all suo moto matters.

C ONTINUED ON PAGE 03

The prime minister inquired about the problems faced by the beneficiaries of the scheme gathered there to receive free flour bags under the PM’s Special Ramzan Package and directed the authorities concerned to immediately resolve all their issues.

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Maryam Aurangzeb accompanied the prime minster.

PM VISITS FREE FLOUR DISTRIBUTION

CENTRE: During the visit free flour distribution centre, PM Shehbaz Sharif was informed that so far, some 4.9 million flour bags had been distributed to the deserving families in Dera Ghazi Khan Division alone. On the occasion, the prime minister said the distribution process of free flour was going on smoothly under the supervision of the Punjab Chief Minister. He also directed giving priority to women, the elderly and the handicapped during the distribution process. He also personally distributed free flour bags to the elderly citizens as well as differently-abled people.

PM Shehbaz said the country was facing challenges but with the blessings of the Almighty, the coalition government was on track to steer it out of the crisis. He said for the first time in history, the government was providing free flour to the needy. After Ramzan, he said the government would continue subsidies on wheat flour for the deserving.

He also expressed his resolve to build Pakistan as per the vision of Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Allama Muhammad Iqbal.

Meanwhile, representatives of the Girls Guide Association (GGA) also met with the prime minister at the distribution point.

The prime minister was informed that the Association –a representative forum of girls’ colleges of the district –was actively supporting the distribution process by guiding the people. PM Shehbaz lauded the efforts of the Association. The occasion, PM Shahbaz Sharif announced to provide a bus to the girls’ guide training centre and promised the development of the training centre.

The PM was informed that 5,000 girls were registered under the girls’ guide campaign in the DG Khan division. Commissioner DG Khan Dr Nasir Mahmood Bashir gave a detailed briefing to the PM stating that over 4.8 million free wheat flour bags have so far been distributed among the poor people through 44 centres set up in all the four districts including DG Khan, Layyah, Rajanpur and Muzaffargarh.