A joint session of parliament has been called by National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf for Monday (tomorrow), after President Arif Alvi returned the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill, 2023, unsigned the day before.
The Federal Cabinet has also decided to table the grant of funds for Punjab assembly elections before the joint session. A meeting of the Federal Cabinet was convened under the Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The grant of funds to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) according to the Supreme Court’s orders was discussed. and it was later decided to bring the matter before the parliament.
According to the terms of Article 75 of the Constitution, the President had sent the bill back to the legislature for reconsideration, claiming that it, in and of itself, was beyond the purview of the legislature and may be criticized as being “colorable legislation.”
The bill attempted to limit the chief justice of Pakistan’s (CJP) authority over suo motu decisions and bench formation.
The session has now been called at 4:00 pm, a notification for the change of timing has also been issued. Previously, the joint session of parliament was slated to start at 2:00 PM on April 10.
Update ⬇️
Joint session of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) will be held on Monday, the 10th April, 2023 at 4:00 p.m. instead of 2:00 p.m.@PTVNewsOfficial @SenatePakistan@MoIB_Official @RadioPakistan @PID_Gov @demp_gov @GovtofPakistan @appcsocialmedia pic.twitter.com/sCwp9NtyzV— National Assembly of 🇵🇰 (@NAofPakistan) April 9, 2023
A day before, the President was criticized by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for returning the top court bill unsigned and was referred to as a PTI worker.
The Prime Minister tweeted, “President Alvi returning the Supreme Court Bill duly passed by Parliament is most unfortunate.” The president, according to the prime minister, has devalued his office by acting in accordance with the PTI leader’s commands rather than carrying out his constitutional obligations, according to the tweet.
