A Pakistan parliamentary panel has approved a controversial bill to increase the number of judges in the Supreme Court from 17 to 25 despite its disapproval by the opposition lawmakers who termed it an attempt to manipulate the judiciary.

‘The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) (Amendment) Act 2024’ which sought to increase the number of judges from 17 to 25 was moved in the Senate last month by independent senator Abdul Qadir to deal with the rising number of “pending cases”.

It was then referred to the Senate Standing Committee on Justice, which met on Friday and its meeting was chaired by Senator Farooq H Naek of the Pakistan Peoples Party.

The committee approved a bill proposing an increase in the number of judges in the Supreme Court (SC) from 17 to 25 despite opposition from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI).

After the committee’s approval, the bill would be presented to the Senate for discussion.

The bill aims to address the issue of delay in cases.

About 60,000 cases are pending in the apex court. However, the opposition alleges that the government would pack the court with the choicest judges to influence cases about leaders of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf.

After the bill was moved last month, PTI leader Ali Zafar said that the government should have introduced reforms in the lower judiciary instead of talking about increasing the number of judges in the SC.

“This is called court-stacking,” he said, adding that several African, Latin American, and Asian countries in the past had increased the number of judges in the superior judiciary in line with the same practice.

“The purpose is to take over the court system by bringing those judges who are favourable to a certain regime.”

Separately, the government on Friday presented in the Senate a controversial ordinance promulgated by President Asif Ali Zardari in September giving a dominant role to the Chief Justice of Pakistan in the formation of benches.

The Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) (Amendment) Ordinance 2024, was laid in the house by Minister for Law and Justice Azam Nazeer Tarar and referred to the standing committee concerned by the deputy chairman.

The ordinance changed the composition of the committee that forms benches and fixes cases under the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act, 2023.

The three-member committee originally comprised the Chief Justice and two senior judges of the court. Now it will consist of the Chief Justice, the next most senior judge, and a judge to be picked by the Chief Justice.

Another significant change is the handling of cases under Section 184(3) of the Constitution, as the ordinance makes it mandatory to document why a particular case is considered a matter of public importance before it is taken up by the court.

The ordinance also takes away the power of the apex court to take up a case for hearing out of turn, making it mandatory for the court to record reasons and justifications for taking a case out of turn.