Amid strong protests by PTI lawmakers, the Joint session of the parliament on Monday once again passed the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023 amid the opposition’s uproar.

The bill, tabled by federal law minister Azam Nazir Tarar, would be sent to President Dr Arif Alvi again for assent as he had, earlier, returned the bill unsigned to the parliament.

The minister said the opposition showed ignorance over the matter adding that the president left a negative comment on the parliament’s prerogative to legislate. “Mr Alvi should have avoided this,” he added.

Mr Tarar went on to say that the law was enacted to neutralize the effect of the “one man show” adding that all powers were vested in two judges of the SC. “If an amendment has been proposed, it must be taken into consideration,” he added. We wanted transparency, he said, in the judicial system. He said Senator Mushtaq Ahmad did a fiery speech adding that he opposed the amendments proposed by Mr Ahmad.

PML-N’s Shiza Fatima proposed an amendment to the bill which, upon approval by the parliament, would be followed by a meeting of the judges’ committee. CJP Bandial or any member of the judges’ committee could summon the meeting until regulations were made.

Minister for Law and Justice Azam Nazeer Tarar moved the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill, 2023 which was passed by the Parliament. It is to mention that President Dr Arif Alvi had returned the ‘judicial reforms’ bill for reconsideration to the Parliament as per the provisions of Article 75 of the Constitution.