The Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial has rejected the plea of the Attorney General of Pakistan to form a full court.
Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Awan informed the Supreme Court that Pakistan was experiencing a deficit of Rs1,500 billion as the SC’s bench shrank to three members and resumed hearing the PTI’s petition challenging the Election Commission of Pakistan’s decision to postpone elections in Punjab on Friday.
He revealed this while outlining the reasons the Finance Ministry had declined to give the ECP funding for polls. Awan predicted that the interest rate would grow to 22%, further increasing the nation’s debt.
The CJP Bandial, during hearing, said that the people wanted to know about elections date. He said that if full court is formed then hearing and progress on other cases will be affected.
Chief Justice said that a lot was to be considered while forming a bench for the case. He said that there will be a bench for hearings in Lahore while during the last week benches were hearing cases in Rawalpindi, Quetta amd Karachi. He said that sometime all the judges are not available.
He said that it could be asked why Justice Naqvi was included, adding that was a silent message.
Later, the Supreme Court has postponed the hearing of holding elections case in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa till 11 am on Monday.
A three-member panel led by Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial heard the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa election delay case following the recusal of two judges.
Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan make up the other two members of the court. The court was changed into a three-member panel. Justice Ameen Ud Din Khan was the first panelist to withdraw.
While Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail also recused from the Supreme Court bench earlier today, the court was disbanded for the second time in two days.
On Monday, the top court initially convened a five-member larger panel to hear the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) complaint regarding the postponement of polls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab.
CJP Bandial, Justice Ahsan, Justice Akhtar, Justice Khan, and Justice Mandokhail made up the first panel.
However, on Wednesday, a Supreme Court bench presided over by Justice Qazi Faez Isa directed that cases falling under Article 184(3) of the Constitution be delayed until the Supreme Court Rules 1980, which govern the chief justice’s discretionary authority to create benches, have been amended.
As a result, on Thursday, Justice Khan’s recusal in accordance with Justice Isa’s directive led to the dissolution of the court considering the election case.
The panel would continue considering the case without Justice Khan, the Supreme Court declared following the bench’s dissolution.
