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Joint session of Pakistan's parliament passes bill to curb powers of chief justice

The development comes two days after President Arif Alvi returned the bill, saying the legislation is beyond the jurisdiction of the legislative body

A joint session of Pakistan's parliament on Monday passed a bill to curb the powers of the chief justice of the Supreme Court regarding suo motu cases and the constitution of benches, amid strong opposition from Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.

"Parliament in its Joint session passes 'The Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill, 2023'," the National Assembly or the lower house announced in a tweet.

The development comes two days after President Arif Alvi returned a bill passed by both houses of parliament for reconsideration, saying the proposed legislation is beyond the jurisdiction of the legislative body.

Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar presented the bill in the joint sitting of the house held with National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf in the chair.

During the much-anticipated sitting, the House approved an amendment to the bill, under which a meeting of a committee of the judges will be convened to devise rules and regulations regarding the suo motu matter. The amendment was proposed by a ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) lawmaker, Geo News reported.

Addressing the joint session, the law minister said that voices against the chief justice's suo motu (on his own initiative) powers were arising from within the top court.

On March 27, two judges of the apex court raised questions over the powers of the CJP, saying the SC “cannot be dependent on the solitary decision of one man, the Chief Justice”.

Opposition PTI senior leader Fawad Chaudhry said on Monday that his party rejects this law.

Pakistan is witnessing a rift between the judiciary and the government after a three-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial fixed May 14 as the date for elections to the Punjab Assembly and quashed the Election Commission's decision to extend the date of the poll from April 10 to October 8.

The apex court's verdict was criticised by the coalition government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party, which has refused to accept it.