ISLAMABAD: The three ruling coalition parties – Jamiat Ulema Islam Fazl (JUI-F), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) on Thursday requested the Supreme Court to hold the hearing. Form a full court for Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Atta Bandial took notice of the delay in announcing the date of elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The request was made in a joint statement read by counsel Farooq H Naik on behalf of the three parties as the nine-judge bench resumed the hearing of the suo motu notice today.
The PDM counsel had also requested Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan and Justice Syed Mazahir Ali Akbar Naqvi to recuse themselves from the nine-member bench that is currently hearing the Spontaneous Notice.
The bench is headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Bandial and includes Justice Ahsan, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Muneeb Akhtar, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Naqvi, Justice Jamal Khan Mandukhel, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Athar Manullah. .
At the beginning of today’s hearing, the Attorney General told the court that he had not received a copy of the order due to which all the parties did not appear today.
On this, Chief Justice Bandyal remarked that the purpose of today’s hearing is to inform the relevant authorities of the automatic notice.
On this occasion, Naik came before the bench and read out the objection note of PPP, JUI (F) and Muslim League (N) against Justice Ahsan and Justice Naqvi.
The lawyer said that when hearing the application related to the rehabilitation of Ghulam Mahmood Dogar, both the judges had given their observations on the matter.
The lawyer also shared the note read by Justice Mandukhel in yesterday’s hearing.
Naik said he was objecting to the inclusion of two judges in the bench “in the interest of justice, fair play and to protect the fundamental right to fair trial and due process as guaranteed under Article 10A”.
On which Justice Minullah asked the lawyer that do you feel that there is a need to make a full court for the case?
“The matter of election is public [importance] it should be a full court,” Naik replied and made a formal appeal to the full court to hear the suo motu on delaying the elections.
Meanwhile, Sheikh Rasheed’s lawyer said that the judiciary is being mocked on social media since yesterday, and demanded the court to look into the matter.
On this, Chief Justice Bandyal said that he will look into the matter later. The Chief Justice asked the Attorney General to prepare the case.
However, Naik interjected that the matter regarding the constitution of the bench and the objections related to it should be resolved first.
“The decision was taken in February and the notice was taken on February 22,” the chief justice said, adding that taking automatic notice falls within the jurisdiction of the chief justice. He said that the petitions of the speakers and Article 184/3 are also scheduled for hearing today.
He added that the court is also looking into the questions raised in the petitions filed by the speakers.
Justice Mandukhel said that political issues should be resolved in Parliament.
“Tell your political parties why the court should hear these cases?” he added.
On this, the PPP lawyer said that he would take instructions from his party on this matter.
The Chief Justice remarked that ‘Today the Constitution knocked on our door, that’s why we took notice’.
Thursday’s hearing
In the preliminary hearing held on Thursday, the Supreme Court issued notices to the federal government, the Attorney General, the Election Commission, the Advocate Generals of the four provinces and the Advocate General of the Islamabad Capital Territory.
On February 22, Chief Justice Bandyal took notice of the apparent delay in elections in the two provinces where the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) dissolved the legislative assemblies in mid-January on the orders of party chief Imran Khan.
The chief justice took the spontaneous notice two days after President Dr Arif Alvi set April 9 as the date for the provincial assembly elections – condemning the government’s move as “unconstitutional and illegal”. went The Chief Justice also constituted a larger bench to hear the case.
The governors of both the provinces refused to give the date of the elections.
On Thursday, Justice Mandukhel had expressed reservations over taking automatic notice of the delay in announcing election dates, saying it was not “justifiable”.
While the other two judges of the bench, Justice Shah and Justice Minullah, raised questions on the dissolution of the assemblies. According to Justice Minullah, the people of this country elect their representatives in the Parliament for a period of five years.
It remains to be seen whether the provincial assemblies of Punjab and KP are dissolved as per the constitution. Consequently, if they violate the Constitution, it becomes a constitutional issue.”
Similarly, regarding the dissolution of provincial assemblies, Justice Shah said that the court should investigate whether the chief minister of a province can act on the instructions of the leader of a political party.
The judge questioned how the assemblies could be dissolved at the behest of an individual, adding that the court should also inquire whether the assemblies were dissolved in violation of the constitution and order them to resolve the issue. Why couldn’t it be restored?
While issuing the order, Chief Justice Bandyal said that the reservations of Justice Jamal Khan Mandukhel and the questions raised by Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Athar Manullah will be included in the court order.
