ISLAMABAD: President Arif Alvi on Wednesday returned the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023 without signing following observing that the matter was sub judice before the Supreme Court.
Dr. Arif Alvi said that it was not suitable to proceed further on the proposed bill as the SC was seized of the matter, the President’s office said in a press release.
صدر مملکت نے سپریم کورٹ ( پریکٹس اینڈ پروسیجر) بل، 2023 ء دستخط کیے بغیر واپس بھیج دیا
قانون سازی کی اہلیت اور بل کی درستگی کا معاملہ ملک کے اعلیٰ ترین عدالتی فورم کے سامنے زیر سماعت ہے، صدر مملکت
معاملہ زیرسماعت ہونے کے احترام میں، بل پر مزید کوئی کارروائی مناسب نہیں، صدر
— The President of Pakistan (@PresOfPakistan) April 19, 2023
The President remarked that he could not take action over the bill as the bill and the NA’s prerogative on legislation on it had been discussed in the country’s top court. “It is not appropriate to take any action in respect for the country’s court,” Alvi added.
Earlier, on April 10, a joint session of Pakistan’s parliament had once again approved the bill amid the opposition’s upheaval following the president’s refusal to sign the bill. Similarly, an eight-member bench of the SC also stopped the execution of the bill.
The bill, tabled by Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar and was sent to the President again for assent as he had, earlier, returned it unsigned to the parliament.
The President did it as per the provisions of the Article 75 of the country’s constitution days following it was sent to him for sign after it had sailed via the National Assembly and Senate amid a standoff between the federal government and the Supreme Court over snap polls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab.
