A joint session of parliament passed the Supreme Court Practices and Procedures Bill 2023, while the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf tried to protest the proceedings.

The bill was presented by Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarrar and is mainly aimed at curtailing the chief justice’s powers to make benches and take suo motu notices.

The House rejected amendments suggested by Jamat-e-Islami’s Senator Mushtaq, which said that the right to appeal old suo-motu notices should not be made part of the bill. Mushtaq had maintained that the bill was person specific and was being passed to give relief to particular individuals.

Another amendment, presented by Shaza Fatima Khawja, which said that a judges committee meeting would finalise suo-motu notices, was passed.

Amendments

MNA Fatima suggested that:

• In sub-clause (1), after the word “two”, the word “next” shall be inserted The proposed sub-clause (2) shall be re-numbered as sub-clause (3) and for existing sub-clause (2), the following should be substituted, namely: “(2) Soon after the commencement of this Act, the committee constituted under sub-section (1) shall hold its first meeting to determine its procedure, including for holding meetings, and constitution of benches etc; “Provided that, till such time the procedure is determined under this sub-section, the meeting of the committee for the purpose of sub-section (1) shall be convened by the chief justice or other two members of the committee, as the case may be.”
• In clause (5), sub-clause (1), for the words “of the Supreme Court who exercised”, the word “exercising” shall be substituted.
• In clause (5), sub-clause (1), for the expression “for hearing, be fixed within a period not exceeding fourteen days”, the expression “within a period not exceeding fourteen days, be fixed for hearing” shall be substituted.
• In his amendment, Senator Khan proposed that sub-clause (2) of the bill’s clause (5) shall be omitted.

The bills are presented to the president for his assent after they are passed by the joint sitting of the National Assembly and the Senate. If the president does not give his approval within 10 days, it will be deemed to have been given.

The bill had already been passed by both houses of parliament separately but had been returned by President Arif Alvi under Article 75 of the Constitution.

President Alvi had said that the bill was ‘beyond the competence of the Parliament’.

However, after being passed by the parliament’s joint session the bill will become law in 10 days even if the president refuses to sign it again.

The bill was presented amid controversy in the supreme court where judges have openly criticised the chief justice for taking suo-motu notices and constituting benches on his own without consulting other judges.

Ishaq Dar tables bill in Parliament seeking approval of funds for polls

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar tabled the Money Bill 2023 on Monday before the NA to decide and discuss funds allocation for the provincial assemblies of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa elections.

The minister tabled the bill titled ‘Charge Sum for General Election Provincial Assemblies of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bill 2023’ in the light of the federal cabinet decision during the NA session.

Setting the context for the Bill, he said the House passed a resolution in the light of the multiple verdicts of the Supreme Court to assert that the top court decision of majority decision was 4-3, which has negated the suo moto notice.

However, he said the House also emphasised upon the government not to implement the 3-0 decision of the SC which was a “minority verdict and should not be implemented” in its resolution.

The finance minister underlined that the federal cabinet decided that the apex court decision to allocate funds for provincial assemblies’ elections of KP and Punjab should be tabled before this house, which should decide the matter.

He added that the Supreme Court in its decision had directed the federal government to provide Rs21 billion to the Election Commission of Pakistan to hold provincial elections. “These elections would be held without general elections of the National Assembly, Sindh and Balochistan assemblies,” he said.

He vowed that the coalition government was determined to “purge the country from the menace of terrorism” and pull the country out of its economic, political and constitutional crises.

The speaker announced that the bill was automatically referred to the committee.

Dar, in his speech, mentioned that from July 2022 to till date Pakistan has repaid $12 billion in foreign debt. “We are paying each foreign payment in time,” he said.

He said that Pakistan had $9.6 billion foreign exchange reserves at present. “Pakistan reserves stand at a total of $9.60 billion — $4.10 billion available with the State Bank of Pakistan and $5.50 billion of commercial banks,” he added.

The minister said that a strategy had been devised by the government to take the country’s foreign exchange reserves to $13 billion by June 30.

He said that the provincial assemblies of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were dissolved on “instructions of Imran Khan” before the legitimate period just apparently to create uncertainty in the country.

The minister said that the elections would be held in the country as per the law and Constitution, but they should be conducted across the country on the same day under the supervision of caretaker governments.

He claimed that holding elections in the country simultaneously would decrease the total expense and ensure fairness and transparency. Dar blamed the policies of the PTI-led government for not holding immediate elections.

He said that the process of the census was near completion at the cost of about Rs35 billion.

“Confusion has been created about my attending the IMF meeting. There are speculations about my participation in the IMF session, the schedule of which was issued several weeks before these meetings. I have cancelled my US visit in these circumstances on the instructions of the prime minister,” Dar said.

He said that Pakistan was very close to signing the staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund, which is “satisfied” with the actions taken by the government to revive the loan programme.

The joint session also saw the passing of the resolution that stated that elections to the NA and provincial assemblies be held on the same day.

The resolution was moved by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Murtaza Javed Abbasi.