Daily Times

The Supreme Court on Friday decided to consider the formation of a full court bench to hear the suo motu notice case regarding the purported delay in provincial assemblies’ elections.

A nine-member bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial and also comprising Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Athar Minallah, heard the case.

During the course of proceedings, Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) lawyer Mansoor Awan maintained that the copy of the order had not been made available yet. To which, the chief justice said that he was happy to see the lawyers of different parties in the court.

Advocate Farooq H Naek counsel for the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) prayed that a full court bench should be constituted on the matter. The chief justice observed that the apex court would determine who had the constitutional responsibility and authority to announce the date of elections after the dissolution of a provincial assembly under various circumstances under the Constitution.

Farooq H Naek said that his client had not received any notice as he requested that notices be issued to all. He said that his client had ‘objections’ on two honourable judges of the bench, requesting that both judges should recuse themselves from the bench. JUI (F), Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), Pakistan Bar Council ‘objected’ on two judges as Farooq H Naek read the joint statement of PML(N), Pakistan People’s Party and JUI (F) in the court and prayed that the two judges ‘should not hear any case of PML(N) and JUI (F).

Farooq H Naek said that after Justice Jamal Mandokhail’s note, those honourable two judges should recuse themselves from the bench. On this occasion, Justice Athar Minallah remarked that he thought this matter was related to 184/3 of the Constitution, and asked why should this matter not be heard in the full court.

Meanwhile, Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rasheed’s lawyer Azhar Siddique appeared on the video link and said that notice should be taken of the language being used against the judiciary.

Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail said that the question on which suo motu notice was taken was a political matter and political matters should be resolved in Parliament. The court stated that the question of forming a full court bench or not would be heard on Monday and the court would also hear ‘objections’ raised on the two judges in the next hearing.