Joint session of parliament called to table Supreme Court bill for curtailing powers of Chief Justice of Pakistan
On Monday, a joint sitting of the parliament will be held to table the bill regarding curtailing powers of the Supreme Court. Earlier, President of Pakistan, Dr Arif Alvi, returned the bill known as the Supreme Court (Practice & Procedure) Bill, 2023, without signing it and asked the parliament for reconsideration. According to details, the bill was sent to Dr Arif Alvi after the parliament passed it. However, Dr Arif stated that the prime-facie of the bill was beyond the parliament’s competence.
Update ⬇️
Joint session of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) will be held on Monday, the 10th April, 2023 at 4:00 p.m. instead of 2:00 p.m.@PTVNewsOfficial @SenatePakistan@MoIB_Official @RadioPakistan @PID_Gov @demp_gov @GovtofPakistan @appcsocialmedia pic.twitter.com/sCwp9NtyzV— National Assembly 🇵🇰 (@NAofPakistan) April 9, 2023
The Supreme Court (Practice & Procedure) Bill aimed to curtail the powers of the apex court head (Chief Justice of Pakistan) including the formation of benches and taking suo moto actions. After the bill was returned by president, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif showed disappointment and called out Dr Arif a worker of PTI.
In his statement, Shehbaz Sharif said that the parliament duly passed the bill, and it was most unfortunate that it got returned by the president. He added that Dr Arif had belittled his position by acting like a worker of the PTI.
Parliament to foresee issue of Punjab polls funds
Meanwhile, the federal cabinet will put forward the issue of funds release for the Punjab polls to Election Commission of Pakistan. On Sunday, the federal cabinet held a meeting, chaired by Shehbaz Sharif at his residency in Model Town.
The meeting was called to discuss the release of funds for the May 14 elections. However, no agenda could be issued at the meeting which continued for about two hours.