The eight-member bench formed to hear petitions challenging the Supreme Court (Practise and Procedure) Bill, 2023, which will limit the chief justice of Pakistan’s discretionary powers to take suo-motu notice, has caused even more controversy after a day of intense debate over its composition and reasoning. Even the Supreme Court’s consideration of the petitions, according to legal experts, was unprecedented because the bill, which President Arif Alvi did not sign, will likely become law 10 days after it was sent to the president for approval.
Since it is not yet law, the Supreme Court had already decided to hold a pre-emptive hearing. The request given by the SC, an ‘expectant directive, has expressed that while it will consider the legality of the bill once it becomes regulation, the Act will not have, take, or be given any impact nor be followed up on in any way, as it very well might be an impediment to the autonomy of the legal executive. Indeed, even a magnanimous perusal of the request causes it to appear that the law has basically been tried to be diminished.
There is currently a minimally subtle approach taken with regards to the ‘conflict’ between the chief and no less than one piece of the greater legal executive, as well as the internal divisions within the legal executive. One wonders where all this is going, as the decision and the process have shocked even the most knowledgeable lawyers. The chaos that has been unleashed over the past year is all coming together and could easily result in devastating consequences if the government does not yield—and it does appear that the government will not comply with the order—and the highest court in the land appears to be in flux.
Legal advisory bodies currently appear to be disjointed, in contrast to the CJ Iftikhar Chaudhry days, which are routinely revisited nowadays. Since the government has refused to provide Rs 21 billion for the elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, there have already been rumours that this court will now dismiss the government. There is additionally, as of now, the hypothesis that the public authority is experiencing crisis powers.
The political temperature in this nation is immovably set at high. In their zeal to be proven right, our institutions may end up burning the place down if they are not careful. In that sense, no one will make it through history in a positive way. The only thing left to anticipate is more chaos. Political observers, legal experts, and even political figures have been warning for weeks that this conflict between the executive branch and the judiciary will not end well. We are seeing an ugly rift inside the judiciary, a corrupted sense of justice, and a court that urgently needs to straighten out its act in order to prevent acting as the system’s ignition. This is not a matter of equity or of government.