The Supreme Court on Thursday disposed of a petition seeking a declaration that the government’s much-touted ‘Constitutional Package’ cannot be introduced or enacted by parliament after the plea was withdrawn.
The Constitutional Package comprises legislation proposing a set of constitutional amendments, including the extension of the top judge’s term.
Experts fear that the proposed amendments would virtually erode the independence of the judiciary by restricting the SC to only hearing appeals or petitions of civil and criminal nature.
Perturbed by the government’s plans, a group of lawyers, led by former Supreme Court Bar Association Abid Shahid Zuberi had moved a petition before the apex court in September to restrain the government from tabling the bill before parliament.
The petition was previously returned by the SC registrar’s office but was fixed for hearing in a supplementary cause list issued on Saturday. A petition against the amendments was also filed last week by the Balochistan Bar Council through Zuberi.
Today, a three-member bench — headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa and also including Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan and Justice Shahid Bilal Hasan — took up the plea today.
While a previous attempt by the ruling coalition to table the amendments in the Parliament had failed last month due to concerns raised by opposition parties, consensus on the legislation has drawn closer in recent days.
The heads of the PML-N, PPP, and the JUI-F met at Jati Umra a day ago, where the government parties virtually succeeded in securing the support of Maulana Fazlur Rehman.
On the other hand, a special parliamentary committee reviewing the amendments has given more time to PTI on its request to share its own draft.
The hearing
At the outset of the hearing, Advocate Hamid Khan appeared on behalf of the petitioners. He requested the court that he be allowed to withdraw the plea.
“Were you [Hamid Khan] appointed a lawyer only to withdraw the application?” CJP Isa asked. He remarked, “Abid Zuberi himself could have withdrawn the application.”
The chief justice noted that another similar application had been fixed for hearing with objections.
However, Khan responded, “We withdraw both applications.”
Subsequently, the bench disposed of the petitions at the request of the lawyer.
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