Election delay case: SC turns down govt’s request to form full court
ISLAMABAD: The newly constituted three-member bench of the Supreme Court on Friday rejected the government’s request to form a full court on the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa election delay case.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial, comprising Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar, rejected the request put forward by Attorney General for Pakistan Mansoor Usman Awan on behalf of the government.
The initial five-member bench comprising CJP Bandial, Justice Ahsan, Justice Akhtar, Justice Amin-Ud-Din Khan, and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail was formed to hear the case. It held three hearings on the matter from Monday till Wednesday.
The three-member bench was formed today after two of the five judges of the original five-member larger bench recused themselves.
Justice Khan was the first member to recuse himself which led to the dissolution of the 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.
Judgment disregarded
But before the election case hearing was set to resume, the Supreme Court “disregarded” the judgment authored by Justice Isa through a circular issued by SC Registrar Ishrat Ali.
“The observations made in paras 11 to 22 and 26 to 28 of the majority judgment of two to one travel beyond the lis before the Court and invokes its suo motu jurisdiction,” observed CJP Umar Ata Bandial in the circular issued today.
It noted that the “unilateral assumption of judicial power” in such a manner violated the rule laid down by a five-member judgment.
“Such power is to be invoked by the Chief Justice on the recommendation of an Honourable Judge or a learned Bench of the Court on the basis of criteria laid down in Article 184(3) of the Constitution. The said majority judgment therefore disregards binding law laid down by a larger bench of the Court,” read the circular.
The recusal
When the bench assembled today, AGP Awan came on the rostrum to speak but CJP Bandial told him that Justice Mandokhail wanted to say something.
The judge, while recusing himself from hearing the case, remarked that he was awaiting the order after Justice Khan’s recusal from the case.
Election delay case: SC turns down govts request to form full court
“I received the order at home. I had written a separate note on the order,” said Justice Mandokhail. He then asked AGP Awan to read out his note.
After the AGP read out the note written in the order, Justice Mandokhail remarked that he was a member of the bench but he was not consulted while the order was being written.
“I believe I am a misfit in the bench. I pray whichever bench is formed in this case gives a verdict that is acceptable to everyone,” said Justice Mandokhail. He prayed for his institution, adding that he and his fellow judges were bound to follow the Constitution.
“I wanted to say something yesterday as well, perhaps there was no need for advice from me while writing the judgment,” noted Justice Mandokhail. He added that the other three members of the bench did not find him “worthy” of giving advice.
After this, Justice Mandokhail tried speaking but was stopped by the CJP. He instead thanked the judge for his note.
“Whatever decision is made on the formation of the bench will be announced in the court in a while,” remarked CJP Bandial.
Later, the court announced that a three-member bench will resume the hearing at 2pm.