Hearing on petitions against SC Practice and Procedure Act today

Islamabad: The hearing on the petitions against Supreme Court Practice and Procedure Act will be held again in the Supreme Court today (Monday).

According to details, a larger bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa comprising Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, Justice Ejaz-ul-Ahsan, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Muneeb Akhtar, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Amin-ud-din Khan, Justice Syed Mazahir Ali Akbar Naqvi, Justice Jamal Khan Mandukhel, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Ayesha A. Malik, Justice Athar Minullah, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Shahid Waheed and Justice Musarat Hilali have been included in the full court.

In the last two hearings, the arguments of the lawyers of five petitioners have been completed. Today the lawyers of the rest of the petitioners, Attorney General, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) will give their arguments.

All the parties have submitted their written responses and arguments in the court. If the arguments of the lawyers are completed, the hearing is likely to be completed today.

The additional documents have been submitted by Khawaja Tariq Rahim, the lawyer of petitioner Ameer Khan, in a separate petition requesting the Supreme Court to approve it.

The Chief Justice has also indicated to complete the case on October 09.

It should be noted that the former government had regulated the powers of the Chief Justice through the Practice and Procedure Act. Under the law, the authority to issue automatic notices, formation of benches and fixation of cases has been given to a committee of three senior judges.