The treasury and opposition benches in the National Assembly fiercely challenged the Supreme Court’s instructions to the lower chamber of parliament to hand up the record of proceedings relating to a bill on Wednesday.
The Supreme Court (Practise and Procedure) Act, 2023, which seeks to control the chief justice’s powers and delegate them to a committee, has been requested by the supreme court.
After considerable opposition from the benches, NA Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf charged a committee constituted earlier today to investigate ex-CJP Saqib Nisar’s audio leak with overseeing the surrender of the record to the Supreme Court.
An eight-member bench of the Supreme Court, which is currently hearing petitions against the contentious law, had earlier directed Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Awan to produce copies of the standing committee and house proceedings “to understand the concerns and views of the lawmakers while passing the bill.”
In response to the members’ protests, the NA speaker stated that he would not “compromise” on parliament’s sovereignty. “There should be no doubt that the house is supreme when it comes to matters concerning the country.”
The members expressed their displeasure with the top court’s orders a day earlier, and in an apparent tit-for-tat move, approved the formation of a committee to investigate the alleged leak of a conversation between former CJP Saqib Nisar’s son and another person, in which the former allegedly demanded Rs12 million for a party ticket in the Punjab Assembly elections.
‘Locked horns’
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif stated earlier on the floor of the house that two institutions — the parliament and the Supreme Court — have clashed. In reference to the Supreme Court’s infighting, he stated that there appears to be a difference of opinion among those who interpret the Constitution.
The defence minister proposed forming a commission to investigate the outcomes of orders issued by former Chief Justice of Pakistan Muhammad Munir and others.
“We are at a watershed moment in history.” “We respect the court, but we are opposed to courts exceeding their constitutional limits,” the minister added, stressing that when the Constitution has been broken in the past, judges have been the ones to enable it.
Asif reminded the courts that there were over 400,000 cases pending and asked them to meet with the parliament once the cases were completed.
The minister also suggested giving the assembly the status of a committee and questioning Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial.
Former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi stated in his speech that the house’s record cannot be handed over to the Supreme Court without first consulting NA members.
“This is a pretty serious situation. “This house is supreme and created the Supreme Court,” Abbasi, a leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, remarked.
Noor Alam Khan, a leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and the Public Accounts Committee chairman, noted that an audit of the Supreme Court has not been conducted in at least a decade.
“We have summoned the Supreme Court’s principal accounting officer and we have also sought the details of the Mohmand Dam Fund,” the PTI leader said, also noting that his committee has sought the details of judges’ salaries.
