SC rejects demand for formation of full court in 26th Amendment case
Constitutional Bench's Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar says full court cannot be formed: Hearing adjourned for three weeks
Stay tuned with 24 News HD Android App
The lawyers for the petitioners challenging the 26th Constitutional Amendment prayed to the constitutional bench (CB) of the Supreme Court (SC) on Monday to form a full court to hear the petitions, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
During the hearing of pleas against the 26th Constitutional Amendment, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar remarked that the lawyers were themselves confused on the subject. “Why don’t you consider the constitutional bench as a full court?”
An eight-member bench, headed by Justice Aminuddin Khan, heard the petitions.
The judge said now it was not possible to form a bench of all SC judges, and it was only the CB, which would hear these petitions.
Justice Jamal Mandokhel conveyed to the lawyers that a full court could not be constituted as per their desire.
Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar said that one of the lawyers had said that a full court be formed through a judicial order, while the other one was of the opinion that the pleas be referred to the chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) for the purpose. “First decide amongst yourselves what you people want.”
In case a full court was formed, Justice Mandokhel went on to say, then there would be another objection and that would be to the presence of CB judges in it.
On Saturday, yet another petition was filed against the amendment in the Supreme Court (SC) when Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) challenged it.
In its petition, the party not only prayed to the apex court to declare the amendment null and void, but also the decisions given by the Judicial Commission as well as the constitutional bench in the aftermath of the amendment.
The party argued that the amendment was against the constitution as well as fundamental human rights. “It has been used by the PML-N and other parties in the coalition government for their political interests,” the party said in its petition.
The parliament had approved new amendments to the constitution to give legislators more power in appointing the top judge.
The passage of the 26th Constitutional Amendment Bill marked the culmination of months of negotiations.
The amendment says the SC chief justice will now be selected by a parliamentary committee and have a fixed term of three years.
Since the general elections in February 2024 were marred by rigging allegations, relations soured between the government and the top court as multiple court rulings backed the PTI.
Similarly, it was also laid down in the amendment that a new group of senior judges would be created to weigh exclusively on constitutional issues.
The amendment came just days before the then Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Qazi Faez Isa was due to retire.
Under the previous law, Isa would have been replaced by the next most senior judge, Mansoor Ali Shah.
The court issued notices to respondents on applications seeking the formation of a full court to hear the matter and live-streaming of proceedings in the case. Subsequently, the matter was adjourned for three weeks.
Reporter Amanat Gishkori