Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel on Friday recused himself from hearing a petition over elections in two provinces after which the bench once again breaks down. The petition is filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) challenging the postponement of elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel said that the order was awaited after Justice Aminuddin Khan’s decision to recuse himself from the bench. He further said that he received the court order at home yesterday.
Justice Mandokhel further said that he was a member of the bench but was not consulted, so he think that he was a misfit in the bench.
Yesterday, Justice Ameen ud din, who was part of the five-judge bench, recused himself from the hearing as he signed an order of another bench of the Supreme Court proposing to defer all cases registered under Article 184/3 of the Constitution.
Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial said that Justice Ameen ud din would like to say something.
The five-member bench collapsed hours after the SC judge announced that the case would be heard further at 11:30 am on Friday, with Justice Ameen ud din not included in the bench.
After the break-up of the bench, Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Muneeb Akhtar went to the Chamber of the Chief Justice and reviewed the situation arising out of their colleague’s separation from the bench, a media report has claimed.
The discussions mostly revolved around whether the remaining four judges would hear the case or remove Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel from three judges and whether the hearing would begin after a three-member bench set aside the order issued in a separate case on Wednesday, the report added.
Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Aminuddin had said that the Constitution did not give unilateral and arbitrary power to the Chief Justice to decide how to list cases for hearing under Article 184/3, how to constitute a bench to hear such cases and the judges hearing such cases.
