In fresh plea, PTI seeks nullification of SC practice committee's decisions

ISLAMABAD: Following the Supreme Court’s major judgment to overturn its lawmakers’ defection verdict, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Thursday challenged the Supreme Court Practice and Procedure Committee's decisions in the absence of senior puisne judge Justice Mansoor Ali Shah.

A petition was filed in the top court by PTI Additional Secretary General Firdous Shamim Naqvi via his counsel Syed Ali Zafar to challenge the September 23 and October 1 decisions of the committee formed under the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act, 2023.

The petition nominated secretary interior and the top court's registrar as respondents.

The former ruling party prayed to the apex court to nullify the decision of the SC Practice and Procedure Committee taken on the aforementioned dates.

The said committee is headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa while other members include Justice Shah and Justice Amin-Ud-Din Khan.

The petition read that on September 23, CJP Isa and Justice Khan "along with the Supreme Court Registrar Jazeela Aslam sat together in a purported 19th meeting of the Committee" which was not attended by Justice Shah, therefore, the said meeting could not be considered as a meeting of the committee.

In the said meeting, the committee had constituted a five-member bench comprising CJP Isa, Justice Munib, Justice Amin, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail and Justice Mazhar Alam Mian Khail to hear Civil Review Petition (CRA) No.197 of 2022 in CP No.2/2022 — seeking overturning of the top court’s 2022 verdict on the interpretation of Article 63(A) of the Constitution related to defection of lawmakers — on September 30.

However, Justice Munib did not attend the hearing of the CRA on September 30 and expressed his inability to attend the hearing through a letter addressed to the SC registrar.

The petition further stated that CJP Isa and Justice Amin had “illegally reconstituted” the bench, replacing Munib Akhtar with Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan in the absence of Justice Shah in the committee’s meeting on October 1.

Through today’s petition, the Imran Khan-founded party sought to declare the proceedings, orders and further decisions "illegal" made on the directives of the committee.

Earlier today, the five-member bench headed by CJP Isa annulled the top court's 2022 verdict on the interpretation of Article 63(A) of the Constitution, which barred lawmakers from going against party directions when voting in parliament.

Hearing the Supreme Court Bar Association's (SCBA) plea, the five-member bench led by the top judge announced the unanimous verdict and approved the review petition with the top judge saying that the detailed verdict will be issued later.

The case revolves around the apex court's previous ruling, which stated that the votes of parliamentarians who deviated from their party's directives and policies were to be disregarded and not counted.