Seeking an amendment to the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1997, a bill was tabled in the Senate on Monday to increase the number of judges in the Supreme Court to 20 — other than the chief justice — to “address the rising number of pending cases”.
The bill titled “Supreme Court (Number of Judges) (Amendment) Act”, 2024, was presented by an independent senator from Balochistan, Mohammad Abdul Qadir.
He sought the increase in the number of top court judges from 17 to 21 as “more than 53,000 cases” pending in the apex court.
According to the bill, a copy of which is available with Geo News, the number of judges of the top court other than the chief justice shall be 20.
It further stated: “The Supreme Court has four jurisdictions original, appellate, advisory, and review being diverse and demanding, contributing to the continuous accumulation of cases.”
“With economic growth and social changes, the complexity and variety of cases have increase,” it pointed out.
It stressed: “This backlog, combined with the complexities of integrating the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, necessitates more judicial resources.”
Speaking on the floor of the upper house, Senator Abdul Qadir called for appointing “at least 16 judges” to the top court, saying that several constitutional matters were being referred to the top court.
“Larger benches are formed and these judges look into the constitutional matters,” he added.
