SC constitutes 13-member full court for SIC reserved seats case

The Supreme Court (SC) has formed a 13-member full court to hear the case regarding the non-allocation of reserved seats in the National Assembly and provincial assemblies to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) on Friday.

According to 24NewsHD TV channel, the full court, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Qazi Faez Isa, will hear the case on June 24 and 25.

The channel reported that Justice Musarrat Hilali will not be part of the full bench due to her health issues.

Both the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the Peshawar High Court (PHC) had previously refused to allocate reserved seats in the assemblies to the PTI-backed SIC.

Consequently, the Sunni Ittehad Council and others have filed appeals in the Supreme Court against the decisions of the ECP and the PHC.

Previously, a three-member bench led by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah had conducted the hearing of the reserved seats case.

The federal government had requested the formation of a larger bench on which the matter was referred to the Judges' Committee for the constitution of the full bench.

Pertinent to mention here that on May 06, 2024, admitting the appeal filed by the SIC for the hearing, the SC suspended the ECP and the PHC verdicts, depriving the party of reserved seats in the national as well as in the provincial assemblies after February 8 general elections.

A three-member bench of the SC, headed by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, and also comprising Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, heard the SIC's appeal.

The court made it clear that it was suspending only those portions of the verdicts, which were related to the allotment of reserved seats to the SIC.

Justice Mansoor expressed surprise at how reserved seats belonging to a party could be allotted to other parties. “Parties can get seats in proportion to the seats they have won in the elections,” he added.

Addressing the attorney general of Pakistan (AGP), the judge asked when there was no such provision under the law, was not the distribution of reserved seats belonging to the SIC among other parties a violation of the constitution?

Justice Athar Minallah remarked that what could not be done directly, could also not be done indirectly. “Not recognizing a party’s mandate indirectly is also not appropriate,” he said.

The SC also referred the matter of the formation of a larger bench, as requested by the AGP, to a committee of judges.

Reporter: Hashar Ahsan