ISLAMABAD: An eight-member bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Monday resumed hearing petitions against a newly enacted law that curtails the powers of the country’s top judge, as the top court remains embroiled in a row with the government. 

Titled the ‘Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023,’ the bill was approved by the cabinet and passed by Pakistan’s parliament in March. However, the president refused to grant assent to the bill and returned it back to Parliament. 

The law deprives Pakistan’s chief justice from taking suo motu action— when a judge takes cognizance of a case and commences proceedings related to it— and limits his powers to constitute panels, hear appeals or assign cases to judges in his team. The new law stipulates that these tasks will now be done by a three-member committee headed by the top judge, with two of the most senior judges as members. 

Approved by the cabinet and passed by Pakistan’s parliament in March, its implementation was barred by the top court on April 13, saying the action would “prevent imminent apprehended danger that is irreparable” as soon as it became an act of parliament. A joint sitting of parliament again approved the bill, following which it technically became law. 

“The judiciary’s independence is a fundamental element of the constitution,” Attorney-General of Pakistan, Mansoor Usman Awan, told the court during the hearing today, according to Pakistani English-language daily Dawn. He said the law had set out the procedure for constituting benches and dealing with appeals.

“He said that decisions and cases concerning the judiciary’s independence and rules should involve a full court, adding that the law would also be applicable on judges that were not hearing the case,” Dawn reported. 

The development takes place amid a row between the Supreme Court and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government over holding snap elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab provinces. The controversy was triggered when former prime minister Imran Khan dissolved the assemblies in both provinces in January to force the government to head into early polls. 

The government says it is economically not viable to hold snap elections first and then have another general election this year, scheduled for October.

The Supreme Court last month ordered the snap polls be held in the two provinces within 90 days of the dissolution of the two local governments, which falls by April 30. This month, the Supreme Court ruled that a decision by the country’s national regulator to postpone polls in Pakistan’s most populous Punjab province to October 8 was unconstitutional, ordering polls in Punjab to be held on May 14.

Pakistan’s government and former PM Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) have held three rounds of discussions to overcome the political impasse and reach a consensus on the date for upcoming elections. Both sides have so far failed at reaching an agreement.