For the primary time in Pakistan’s historical past, the Supreme Court docket on Monday started dwell streaming the listening to of instances on the primary day of the brand new Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa.
Justice Isa, 63, took oath because the twenty ninth Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) on Sunday after the retirement of Justice Umar Ata Bandial.
His tenure will span 13 months, ending on October 25, 2024.
Departing from the earlier apply, Isa started with dwell streaming of a set of petitions difficult the Supreme Court docket (Apply and Process) Act 2023 which requires the formation of benches on constitutional issues of public significance by a committee of three senior judges of the court docket.
The earlier coalition authorities led by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) by way of this regulation handed in April this yr tried to dilute the powers of the then chief justice Bandial on the difficulty of suo motu by curbing his powers on the formation of judges panels.
Bandial had stayed the operation of the regulation till its closing adjudication and the brand new chief justice on the primary day arrange a full court docket bench and started proceedings.
The regulation states {that a} three-member bench, comprising the CJP and the 2 senior-most judges of the apex court docket, will determine whether or not or to not take up a matter suo motu. Beforehand, this was solely the prerogative of the CJP.
Moreover, it provides to the overview jurisdiction of the Supreme Court docket, giving the precise to file an enchantment inside 30 days of the judgement in suo motu instances.
It’s the similar regulation which if upheld would permit former premier and PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif to file an enchantment in opposition to his disqualification by the Supreme Court docket in 2017.
Individually, Justice Isa additionally refused to obtain a guard of honour upon arriving on the apex court docket for his first day as the brand new Chief Justice of Pakistan, one other departure from the earlier apply.
