ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Tuesday continued for the second consecutive day the hearing of petitions challenging the SC Procedure and Rules Act 2023.
The judges are: Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Ayesha A. Malik, Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Shahid Waheed and Justice Musarrat Hilali.
When Faisal Siddiqui of the MQM tried to explain the word law mentioned in Article 191, the chief justice remarked that Mr Siddiqui don’t give answer to each and evey question raised by judges and try to complete the arguments.
He also asked members of the bench not to raise too many questions in order to get the proceedings completed.
However, Justice Muneeb Siddiqui said he was a member of the bench and had the privilege of asking questions otherwise there is no need to sit in the bench.
He said there have been four hearings but still the arguments were not concluded lingering the matter. This is our performance: we haven’t been able to conclude the proceedings while there are backlogs of cases in the court.
The chief justice and the lawyers of the petitioners have been arguing on the content of the Act. The lawyers have been of the opinion that the new law was an effort by the government to curtain the independence of the top court.
However, the chief justice wondered how it could hamper the court from exercising its independence. He also observed yesterday that parliament had enacted the law with good intentions.
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