ISLAMABAD: The newly constituted three-member bench of the Supreme Court on Friday rejected the government’s request to constitute a full court in the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa election delay case.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Atta Bandial and comprising Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan and Justice Muneeb Akhtar rejected the plea of Attorney General for Pakistan Mansoor Usman Awan on behalf of the government.
The initial five-member bench for hearing the case consisted of Chief Justice Bandyal, Justice Ahsan, Justice Akhtar, Justice Aminuddin Khan and Justice Jamal Khan Mandukhel. He held three hearings on the matter from Monday to Wednesday.
A three-judge bench was constituted today after two of the five judges of the original five-judge larger bench recused themselves.
Justice Khan was the first member to recuse himself, leading to the dissolution of the bench.
A Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Qazi Faiz Isa on Wednesday adjourned cases under Article 184(3) of the Constitution pending amendments to the Supreme Court Rules, 1980 regarding the discretionary powers of the Chief Justice to constitute benches. Ordered.
Justice Khan concurred with Justice Isa while Justice Shahid Waheed ruled 2-1 in the self-notice case of awarding 20 marks to Hafiz Quran students while taking admission in MBBS/BDS degree under Regulation 9(9). disagreed with the majority of ) MBBS and BDS (Admission, House Job and Internship) Regulations, 2018.
Consequently, the bench hearing the election case was dissolved on Thursday after Justice Isa’s order was removed by Justice Khan.
After the dissolution of the bench, the Supreme Court announced that the bench would continue hearing the case without Justice Khan.
When the court session was held today, Justice Mandukhel also excused himself from hearing the case.
Judgment disregarded
But before the hearing of the election case resumed, the Supreme Court “overlooked” the judgment penned by Justice Isa through a circular issued by Supreme Court Registrar Ishrat Ali.
Chief Justice Umar Atta Bandial in a circular issued today observed that “the observations made in paras 11 to 22 and 26 to 28 of the two to one majority judgment travel beyond the lis before the court and its per se jurisdiction.” demand.”
It noted that such “unilateral assumption of judicial power” violates the principle laid down by the five-judge bench.
“Such power is vested in the Chief Justice on the recommendation of an Hon’ble Judge or a learned Bench of the Court on the basis of the criteria laid down in Article 184(3) of the Constitution. Hence the said majority judgment passed by a large Bench of the Court. Ignores binding law,” the circular read.
The recusal
When the bench assembled today, AGP Awan came to the rostrum to speak, but Chief Justice Bandyal told him that Justice Mandukhel wanted to say something.
The judge recused himself from the hearing of the case, remarking that he was awaiting an order after Justice Khan’s withdrawal from the case.
“I received the order at home. Justice Mandukhel said that I had written a separate note on the order. He then asked AGP Awan to read his note.
When the AGP read out the note written in the order, Justice Mandukhel remarked that he was a member of the bench but was not consulted when the order was being written.
“I believe I am a misfit on the bench. I pray that whichever bench sits in this case will give a decision that is acceptable to all,” Justice Mandukhel said. He prayed for his institution. Kay, he added that he and his fellow judges are bound by the Constitution.
Justice Mandukhel said that I wanted to say something yesterday too, maybe I did not need to be consulted while writing the judgment. He added that the other three members of the bench found him unfit to advise.
Justice Mandukhel then tried to speak but was stopped by the Chief Justice. He instead thanked the judge for his note.
Chief Justice Bandyal remarked that whatever decision will be taken on the formation of the bench will be announced in the court shortly.
Later, the court announced that the three-member bench would resume hearing at 2 pm.
Pakistan Bar Council seeks full court
After the hearing resumed, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Pakistan Bar Council Hasan Raza Pasha came to the rostrum to speak and urged the court to constitute a full bench on the case.
However, Chief Justice Bandyal said he would hear the bar later.
But Pasha said the bar is not for or against anyone. He further said that if a full court bench cannot be formed, then a full court conference should be called.
The Chief Justice said that we are thinking about it. He further said that relations between the judges are fine.
The Chief Justice also said that the media sometimes says things which are not true.
“I will hold some meetings after the hearing. Hopefully Monday’s sun will rise with good news,” the chief justice remarked.
On this occasion, AGP Awan came to the rostrum and Chief Justice Bandyal asked him to speak.
The government’s top lawyer pleaded with the court to lower the political temperature, saying it needed to be done across the country.
The Chief Justice asked the AGP what he had done regarding the instructions to lower the political temperature.
“Only time is needed. The [political] temperature may come down with time,” AGP Awan said.
Chief Justice Bandyal said that the 90-day limit for elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is ending in April. He added that the President gave the date for the elections after the 90-day limit expired.
The Chief Justice said that if the President had understood the situation, he would not have given the date of April 30. He further said that the issue before the court was dated October 8.
The court did not sit to create problems. Give the court a solid reason or start a conversation, the chief justice said. He further said that a party chairman is giving assurances, the government will have to forget the past.
The Chief Justice said that the Assembly was running out of time in August and would take a break for a few days if there were talks between the government and the opposition. He further said that if negotiations do not take place, he will play his constitutional role.
After seeing the decision of the court you will say that it is a free decision. The judgment will mention the points of each side,” the chief justice said. He then asked the AGP about the court’s direction to reduce costs.
The chief justice added that he was asked to reconstitute the bench, adding that he could have changed all the judges if he wanted.
The Chief Justice said that if you want to do that, it will be an invasion of our privacy.
The AGP then intervened and said that the Chief Justice had said that the judges had not recused themselves from the hearing.
The Chief Justice clarified that ‘I did not say anything about the dismissal of judges.
The Chief Justice said that we judges will discuss the issue of stopping the hearing. He then added that judges’ internal discussions should not be held in public.
He then directed the AGP to discuss bringing down the political temperature, adding that he would resolve the issues soon.
AGP again urges for full court
Meanwhile, AGP Awan requested the formation of a full court bench to hear the case.
Once the AGP requested, the Chief Justice allowed him to discuss it.
“The issue of a full court was on my mind. However, before forming a full court, certain factors must be looked at,” the chief justice said. He added that one factor was that routine cases were not affected as the number of cases was increasing daily.
The Chief Justice also explained that sometimes judges were not in the same city as they visited Supreme Court registries in other cities.
Chief Justice Bandyal said that during the formation of the nine-member bench, I thought that all judges, from senior to junior, should be represented. He then spoke about the members of the initial nine-member bench formed to hear the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa election case.
He also added that the full court case dealt with Justice Qazi Faiz Isa’s 2019-2021 reference and he had to face its consequences.
The Chief Justice said that he found Justice Athar Minullah to be constitutional and Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Muneeb Akhtar were constitutional experts. He further said that Justice Ahsan is also an expert in the constitution.
‘The Silent Message’
The Chief Justice said that you can ask why Justice Syed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi was included in the nine-member bench.
To this, the AGP said, “If the Chief Justice wants to talk about it, he can”.
The Chief Justice said that Justice Mazhar Naqvi was included [in the bench] to send a silent message to someone.
‘Judges targeted on hearsay’
Chief Justice Bandyal then said that a political case is going on due to which the judges are being targeted. He further said that judges are being targeted on the basis of hearsay.
Chief Justice Bundyal said, “The Supreme Court was and still is united on some issues,” and added, “No one sees how the judiciary is affected”.
“I am being asked to convict another judge. Go and examine these facts first,” said Chief Justice Bandyal.
The Chief Justice further said that judges are being targeted on the basis of audio leaks.
If you talk about law, I will listen as a judge. If you talk about my judges, you will have to face me,” said Chief Justice Bandyal.
The Chief Justice further said that judges are being targeted on the basis of audio leaks.
If you talk about law, I will listen as a judge. If you talk about my judges, you will have to face me,” said Chief Justice Bandyal.
Meanwhile, the AGP told the court that he would complete his arguments soon. But ECP’s lawyer Irfan Qadir intervened and said that his client’s position was not heard.
However, the Chief Justice asked Qadir to let the AGP complete his arguments.
“I just want to speak for three minutes. I have to sit for hours. If you can be emotional, so can I,” Kadir said.
Three minutes
“We will listen to you. You spoke for about three minutes,” the chief justice told Qadir.
“Not three minutes, I’ll talk even shorter,” Kadir said.
The Chief Justice then asked the Attorney General to talk about the case, saying he became emotional over the random conversation.
The Chief Justice said that the country is facing a security problem and half the polling stations are either highly sensitive or sensitive. “It is not enough to say that there is terrorism in the country,” he said and added, “Terrorism has been around since the 90s”.
The court was told that the forces are busy at the border. This also has to be reviewed, the Chief Justice said.
The Attorney General said that he saw the circular of the court and also read the note of Justice Mandukhel. He further said that the second point was related to the ratio of the judgment of March 1 and the third point was based on the judgment of March 1.
“The present petition is based on the March 1 court order,” he said and added that two members of the nine-member bench had voluntarily recused themselves.
“Who told you that two judges recused themselves from the bench? Read the court’s February 27 order, where is it written?” the chief justice asked the attorney general.
He then asked the Attorney General to discuss security and funds.
AGP Awan said that the Chief Justice will give his arguments after listening to the political parties. He said that I will inform the court about the economic situation of the country.
Funds remain elusive
During the hearing, Justice Muneeb Akhtar asked the Attorney General whether the elections can be postponed till October 8.
Meanwhile, the Chief Justice said that the bench will also grant attendance to Farooq Naik, Akram Sheikh and Kamran Murtaza. We want to listen to Pakistan first.
AGP said that the issue is not about 20 billion rupees but about the entire economy. He further said that the country is facing a deficit of 1500 billion rupees. He said that the central bank’s interest rate may go up to 22 percent by June 30. Increase in interest rate also increases the debt.
“Does the new interest rate apply to past loans?” asked the Chief Justice
“How much money does the government have at present? How much money is there in the federal consolidated funds? How much will the deficit increase by spending Rs 20 billion? Justice Akhtar asked.
Justice Akhtar asked AGP that how much will the deficit of 1500 billion rupees increase from 20 billion rupees? He added that election expenses were probably less than 1 percent of the deficit.
The AGP responded by saying that the supplementary budget was expected to generate Rs 170 billion [as a result of the introduced tax measures] if collected in full.
Justice Akhtar inquired as to who controls the consolidated funds of the federation. “The funds are under the control of the finance ministry,” replied the AGP.
