Daily Times

A three-member reconstituted bench on Friday rejected Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan’s request regarding the formation of a full court in the case against the postponement of the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assembly elections.

Following the recusal of Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail and Justice Aminuddin, the three-member bench resumed hearing the PTI plea against the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) decision to delay polls and rejected the full court request put forward by Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan on behalf of the government.

The bench was disbanded for the second time today as the original five-member top court bench was dissolved following the recusal of Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail while Justice Aminuddin Khan withdrew himself from the Supreme Court bench a day earlier.

As soon as the proceeding began, Justice Mandokhail recused himself from the case. Justice Mandokhail said that despite being a member of the bench, he wasn’t consulted regarding the formation of the new bench.

On Wednesday, an SC bench headed by Justice Qazi Faez Isa ordered the postponement of cases being heard under Article 184(3) of the Constitution till the amendments made in the Supreme Court Rules 1980 regarding the discretionary powers of the chief justice to form benches.

Justice Khan concurred with Justice Isa while Justice Shahid Waheed dissented with the majority order of 2-1 in the suo motu case regarding the grant of 20 marks to Hafiz-e-Quran students while seeking admission to MBBS/BDS Degree under Regulation 9(9) of the MBBS and BDS (Admissions, House Job and Internship) Regulations, 2018.

Consequently, on Thursday the bench hearing the election case was dissolved following Justice Khan’s recusal in line with Justice Isa’s order.

After the dissolution of the bench, the apex court announced that the bench would continue hearing the case without Justice Khan.

When the court met today, Justice Mandokhail also recused himself from hearing the case saying he believed that he was a “misfit” for the bench.