ISLAMABAD: A full court of Supreme Court will take up next week appeals of Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) and Speaker Khyber Pukhtunkhwa Assembly, challenging Peshawar High Court (PHC) verdict, declining party reserved seats for women and minorities in national and provincial assemblies.
The full court will hear the appeals on June 3.
Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa will head the full court comprising of Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Muneeb Akhtar, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandukhel, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Ayesha Malik, Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Shahid Waheed, Justice Irfan Saadat Khan and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan. Justice Ms Musarat Hilali will not be part of the full court due to heart ailment.
The SIC head, Sahibzada Hamid Raza, and Speaker of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa (KP) had filed appeals against judgment of Peshawar High Court. They prayed the court to allot the party 67 women and 11 minority seats in the national and provincial assemblies. They also requested the court to set aside the high court’s verdict.
The Election Commission had decided not to allocate reserved seats to SIC which was upheld by Peshawar High Court on March 14.
On May 6, a three-member bench of SC, headed by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and comprising Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Athar Minallah, had suspended the order of ECP as well as verdict of PHC, refusing Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) reserved seats and giving them to other political parties.
The bench had issued notices to parties after sending the matter to a three-member committee constituted under Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act, 2023 for constitution of a larger bench to further hearing the matter.
The decision to form a full court to hear the appeals was taken by a majority of two to one.
According to sources, the meeting of the committee consisting of Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Muneeb Akhtar was held on Thursday. In the meeting, Justice Muneeb Akhtar opined a seven-member larger bench consisting of most senior judges of Supreme Court should be formed regarding reserved seats case.
According to sources, Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa gave the opinion of forming a full court, which was agreed by most senior judge Justice Mansoor Ali Shah.
“The impugned judgments of Election Commission of Pakistan and Peshawar High Court are suspended to the extent of reserved seats given to political parties in redistribution beyond their proportion in the assemblies”, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah had noted down in court’s order after hearing the counsel of parties in the matter.
The court had held the votes cast by the members so far and their opinion on the legislation will not be considered suspended. The order of this court will not apply retrospectively, but from now as well, it said.
The court had further noted as per Election Commission’s notification of April 25, 2024, 82 independent candidates elected to National Assembly had joined Sunni Ittehad Council.
“Prima facie the political parties in the Parliament, which have been given reserved seats beyond their proportional representation, is unfair”, court observed. The reserved seats of public representatives after their election to Parliament and joining Sunni Ittehad Council were distributed among other parties against the constitutional principle of proportional representation, the court said
“We will hear the appeal from June 3 on daily basis as well”, Justice Mansoor had held.
During the course of hearing on Monday, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah remarked they have to protect the spirit of mandate of the public enshrined in Constitution, adding no party matters for them.
“We have to look into the matter as per Constitution and the mandate given by the public to whom, we have to protect it as well”, Justice Mansoor remarked. The real issue is of public mandate, he added.
“It is the scheme of Constitution that mandate should be respected, and it should be reflected in the Parliament as well”, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah had remarked.
Important thing is that after assumption of post of Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa has formed the full court for the second time. In the past former Chief Justice Umar Atta Bandial always shied away from forming full court in order to suppress dissenting voices.
The posts of three judges are vacant in the Supreme Court on which a meeting of Judicial Commission will be held on June 7.
In the session, two of the six senior judges from Lahore High Court, while one of the three senior judges of Sindh High Court are likely to be appointed to the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, the contempt of court case against Faisal Vawda and Mustafa Kamal has also been fixed for hearing on June 5.
The court has issued notices to Faisal Vawda and Mustafa Kamal to appear in person, while the Attorney General has also been issued a notice.
The Supreme Court had sought a written reply from Faisal Vawda and Mustafa Kamal on the previous hearing.
A five-member larger bench headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa will also hear the NAB amendments intra-court appeals on June 6.
