The Supreme Court (SC) has constituted a full bench to hear the case filed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) regarding the non-allocation of reserved seats.
According to the 24NewsHD TV channel, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Qazi Faez Isa will head the 13-judge full bench of the Supreme Court.
The hearing on the Sunni Ittehad Council's petition is fixed for June 3 by the larger bench of the Supreme Court.
The sources said Justice Musarrat Hilali will not be part of the full bench due to her health issues.
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 Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the Peshawar High Court (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.
Adjourning the case’s hearing until June 3, Justice Mansoor said the bench would hear the case from June 3 onwards on a daily basis.

Reporter: Amanat Gishkori