— Reconstituted SC bench debates governor, president’s role after 4 judges dissociate themselves
ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial said Monday that the parliament has clearly written in the Elections Act, 2017, that the president can announce the date for polls.
After deciding that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa KP and Punjab governors — Haji Ghulam Ali and Baligh Ur Rehman — and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) were not fulfilling their constitutional duties to announce the date for polls in both provinces, President Arif Alvi announced earlier this month that elections would take place in April — a move that drew strong criticism from the government.
Meanwhile, the CJP’s remarks came during the suo motu hearing related to the elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab. The bench, which earlier constituted nine members, now comprises only five members.
The bench was reconstituted after Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan, Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Yahya Afridi recused themselves from hearing the case.
The hearing of the case was scheduled to start today at 11am, however, it was delayed reportedly due to the bench formation in the light of a Supreme Court order of the February 23 hearing.
A written order was issued on the SC’s website in which dissenting notes of Justice Afridi, Justice Minallah, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail and Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah had been included.
Following this, a five-member bench headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Shah and Justice Mandokhail was formed which presided over today’s hearing.
The newly-formed bench — after the counsel of speakers from both provinces, Barrister Ali Zafar concluded his arguments — adjourned the hearing of the case till 9:30 morning on Tuesday.
In a surprising turn of events, the Supreme Court saw a reduced bench of five justices instead of its usual nine, as it resumed suo motu proceedings regarding the tardiness in announcing election dates for Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Previously comprising nine judges, the bench underwent a restructuring and now stands as a five-member entity due to the disassociation of four judges, namely Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, and Justice Athar Minallah.
Despite experiencing two delays in scheduled timings of 11:30 am and 12:30 pm, the bench proceeded with its hearing.
According to a court order, five judges — Justice Bandial, Justice Ahsan, Justice Akhtar, Justice Naqvi, and Justice Mazhar — demanded the case be heard on the three questions framed by the chief justice in the initial notice.
The majority order has also indicated that the queries raised by Justice Minallah concerning the legality of dissolving the KP and Punjab parliaments for taking dictation from a particular party leader, a reference to former prime minister Imran Khan, may be examined at a suitable stage while bearing in mind the urgency of the matter.
Meanwhile, the remaining four judges, in a dissenting note, have called for the reconstitution of the bench citing various reasons.
At the previous hearing, members of the coalition Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) submitted a note to the apex court, requesting that two judges — Justice Ahsan and Justice Naqvi — recuse themselves from the case.
During the hearing on Monday, Justice Bandial said that while four members of the bench disassociated themselves from the proceedings, the remaining bench will continue to hear the case concerning the interpretation of the Constitution.
He further said the court will resume the hearing Tuesday and attempt to conclude it.
The judge also expressed concern over the premature release of a note by one of the judges and assured that measures would be taken to prevent such incidents in the future.
During the hearing, Barrister Ali Zafar informed the court about the Punjab governor’s request for names from both parties regarding the caretaker chief minister. However, due to a disagreement, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) chose the name of the chief minister.
The ECP wrote to the governor, who declined to propose a date for the election because he had not dissolved the assembly. Justice Mazhar highlighted it was the governor who had “thrown the matter” to the commission’s court and questioned who appoints the governor.
