ISLAMABAD (NNI): The National Assembly on Monday passed a bill to increase the number of Supreme Court judges shortly after it was presented as the opposition strongly protested.
The bill was presented by Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, who said that the government had proposed increasing the number of judges to 34.
Law Minister also introduced Islamabad High Court Amendments Bill 2024 to increase the number of judges in Islamabad High Court.
Law Minister Tarar, while presenting the Bill in National Assembly, said, “This amendment will increase the number of judges in the Supreme Court up to 34, so that the backlog of cases can be cleared, and that after the 26th amendment, we can have judges to form the constitutional benches.”
Opposition lawmakers gathered in front of Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq to register their protest against the legislation and they tore into the pieces the copies of the bills.
Law Minister continued his speech amid ruckus by PTI MNAs and further claimed that, “Our bar lobbies and the SCBA (Supreme Court Bar Association) have been recommending this for a while now so that the four-bar court registries in Karachi, Quetta, Peshawar, and Lahore can relieve their thousands of pending cases.
This number has been left open for the judicial commission”. Soon after the law minister presented the bill in the assembly and finished his speech, voting on the bill was carried out as the opposition continued to register a noisy protest.
The National Assembly also passed amendments to the Pakistan (Army/Air Force/Navy) Act Amendment Bill 2024 to increase the tenures of service chiefs, presented by Defense Minister Khawaja Asif.
According to the statement of objects and reasons for the amendments presented by Defence Minister, “The purpose of these amendments is to make consistent the Pakistan Army Act, 1952, The Pakistan Navy Ordinance, 1961 and The Pakistan Air Force Act, 1953 with the maximum tenure of the Chief of the Army Staff, the Chief of the Naval Staff and the Chief of the Air Staff and to make consequential amendments for uniformity in the aforementioned laws”.
After the passage of the Bills, session of National Assembly was postponed by Speaker till tomorrow. NNI
