Bill moved in Senate for increase in SC strength to 21

ISLAMABAD: An independent lawmaker Monday moved a bill in the Senate, envisaging increase in the strength of the Supreme Court judges from 17 to 21 amid the opposition’s calls of dubbing it ‘a judicial coup’.

Muhammad Abdul Qadir moved the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) (Amendment) Bill that calls for amending the previous act passed by the parliament in 1997 to fix the number of judges of the apex court to 21.

Chairman Senate Yousaf Raza Gilani referred the bill to the standing committee concerned after the PTI opposed it and alleged that the proposed law had been moved with the intention to install those judges who would be favourable to the incumbent government.

Senator Qadir explained that the purpose of the bill was to ensure quick justice and clear pendency of over 53,000 cases in the apex court, as the litigants had to wait for up to two years to get their cases fixed.

However, he pointed out the judges continued to delay decisions on the common people’s cases because they were engaged to decide on a number of constitutional matters pending with them.

He added that billions of rupees worth of tax and power utilities related cases were also stuck with the apex court, whereas the judges had no time to hear them. He singled out the growing population as another reason to increase the number of apex court judges.

Opposing the bill, PTI parliamentary leader Barrister Ali Zafar said the government should have introduced reforms in the lower judiciary instead of opting for increasing the number of SC judges.

“This is called stacking of courts; many African, Latin American and Asian countries in the past had increased the number of judges in superior judiciary by following the same practice,” he said and charged that the purpose of the move to take over the court system by bringing those judges who were favourable to a certain regime. He termed the proposed law a judicial coup. The opposition, he pointed out, was ready for increasing the number of judges by two but efforts were being made to increase the number by seven.

ANP Senator Aimal Wali Khan called for establishing a separate constitutional court and said it was more necessary to increase the number of judges in the lower courts than in the apex court. He claimed that when decisions were made somewhere else, then things happened like this. He said it was in the media who was in need of additional judges.

PTI’s Saifullah Abro said there was uneasiness in the ranks of the government since the SC ruling that gave the parliamentary reserved seats to the PTI. He advised that the government should first respect and implement that judgment.

Law Minister Senator Azam Nazeer Tarar indirectly supported the bill and warned the opposition against making the issue political, saying the mover had pointed out genuine issues even if the government did not agree to it.

He explained that the appeals of prisoners facing death sentence and life imprisonment had been pending with the Supreme Court since 2015. He recalled that PTI Senator Fauzia Arshad had introduced a similar bill that was later withdrawn on the advice of her party colleague and senior lawyer Senator Hamid Khan.

The law minister emphasized that the framers of the Constitution did not fix the number of judges in the superior judiciary and left it open for the parliament to do so from time to time keeping in view the existing circumstances.

He also said they were going to increase the number of judges of Peshawar High Court by 10 on the request of the higher court. He said the government would examine the bill and then respond to it. He also requested the chair to refer the bill to the House committee concerned.

Responding to the opposition’s demand for reforms in the lower judiciary, the minister informed the House that the government was soon introducing a judicial package in the parliament in next two to three weeks.

“Massive reforms are being introduced in the criminal procedure code, from registration of FIR to manner of arrest and discharge, and timelines in the material and sessions trial to the use of modern device in the law of evidence,” he added. The Senate will resume its proceedings Thursday morning.