Delay in Polls. Govt to amend contempt of court law to avoid trouble
Nawaz, Zardari, Fazlur Rehman hold consultations on issue of judiciary also discuss amendments in contempt of court law
The time of the joint session of the Parliament scheduled for today (Monday) has been changed.
ISLAMABAD ( Web News )
The federal government has geared up to bring amendments in contempt of court law in a bid to rescue itself from Supreme Court’s (SC) orders, directing it to provide Rs21 billion in funds to Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), ARY News reported on Sunday.
Sources told ARY News that the government has planned to bring amendments to Article 204 of the Constitution – which empowers court to “punish any person who abuses, interferes with or obstructs the process of the Court in any way or disobeys any order”.
Sources claimed that the government decided to bring amendments in contempt of court law to avoid ‘any legal trouble’ after Supreme Court (SC) directed it to provide Rs21 billion in funds by April 10 to Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for Punjab elections.
Earlier in the day, it was reported that the federal cabinet failed to make a decision for issuing funds to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for the Punjab elections.
Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif chaired an important session of the federal cabinet today. The cabinet members decided to expand the scope of consultations for issuing funds to the ECP for the Punjab elections.
The cabinet members decided to take the matter to the Parliament.
“The cabinet members said that there are two different rulings of the Supreme Court (SC) which increased confusion for the federal government. Some members suggested to partially releasing funds to the election commission to avoid facing contempt of court charges,” sources added.
The cabinet decided to take opinion from the Parliament as it is the superior institution besides exhibiting reservations on the SC’s three-member bench’s verdict. The members also agreed on maintaining the supremacy of the Parliament.
It is pertinent to mention here that a three-member bench — comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar declared the ECP’s order postponing the provincial assembly elections until October 8 as “unconstitutional” and ordered the government to release Rs21 billion funds for elections in Punjab by April 10.
Nawaz, Zardari, Fazlur Rehman hold consultations
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Quaid and former prime minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, former president and Co-Chairman of Pakistan People’s Party Asif Ali Zardari and Chief of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) and Ameer Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Maulana Fazlur Rehman have held consultations on the issue of judiciary.
According to a private TV channel, the contacts of Asif Ali Zardari, Nawaz Sharif and Maulana Fazlur Rehman with each other are continued and the three bigwigs of the current government held deliberations to ensure the supremacy of the Parliament.
According to sources, the three leaders held deliberations on the issues of appointment of judges in the apex court and amendments in constitution and laws in connection with Judicial Council came under discussion and they agreed that appointment of judges in the apex court will be made through Parliamentary Judges Committee.
The aforementioned leaders also discussed a suggestion of presenting report of Supreme Judicial Council in the Parliament. While giving recommendation of ending the role of Parliamentary Committee for Judges Appointment, they agreed to further proceed Senator Farooq Hamid Naek’s recommendations for making the Parliamentary Committee more powerful.
The three leaders also discussed the amendments in the law of contempt of court and coalition government’s legal and constitutional experts have been directed to prepare separate manuscript of law for bringing judicial reforms.
Time of joint session of the Parliament scheduled for today changed
The time of the joint session of the Parliament scheduled for today (Monday) has been changed.
According to the notification issued by the Additional Secretary (Legislation) Muhammad Mushtaq, the joint session of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) will be held today (Monday), the 10th April, 2023 at 4:00 PM instead of 2:00 PM. The copies of the notification have been sent to all the members of National Assembly and Senate.
The notification read as:
“I am directed to inform that in exercise of the powers conferred by proviso to rule 4 of the Parliament (Joint Sittings), 1973, the Honorable Speaker has been pleased to call a joint sitting on Monday, the 10th April, 2023 at 4:00 PM instead of 2:00 PM”.
During the joint session of the parliament, the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill, 2023 will be presented for passage.
It is worth mentioning here that President Dr. Arif Alvi on Saturday had returned the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill, 2023 for reconsideration to the Parliament as per the provisions of the Article 75 of the Constitution, stating that the Bill prima-facie travels beyond the competence of the Parliament and can be assailed as a colourable legislation. The President said that he thought it fit and proper to return the Bill, in accordance with the Constitution, with the request for reconsideration in order to meet the scrutiny about its validity (if assailed in the Court of Law).
President Dr. Arif Alvi had written letter to Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif comprising three pages while returning the bill for reconsideration.