ISLAMABAD: The federal government on Friday demanded the resignation from the Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial after his colleague Justice Minallah released detailed dissenting note on election delay case.
Addressing a press conference, Federal Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said that the chief justice should resign from his office after Justice Minallah said that the suo moto case on Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa elections was dismissed by 4-3 majority.
She said that the top judge of the court has become ‘controversial’, so he should resign immediately. She said that the dissenting note of the Justice Minallah ‘exposed’ the superior judiciary. “How a bench can be reconstituted on a rejected petition,” questioned the federal minister.
The information minister said that the order was imposed on the government to hold elections in 90 days.
Talking about the dissenting note of Justice Minallah, Marriyum said why the lie was told that the judges had recused themselves from the election delay bench.
Marriyum said that Justice Minallah did not recuse from the apex court bench.
Stressing the government stance, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senior Vice President Maryam Nawaz also demanded the resignation from the CJP Bandial.
Taking to Twitter, the PML-N leader demanded the chief justice to step down after the dissenting note from Justice Minallah.
In his 25-page note, Justice Minallah said that the suo moto case was dismissed by 4-3. He mentioned the various proceedings on the matter since the assemblies were dissolved in January. He also observed that petitions were filed seeking contempt of court proceedings to reinforce the Lahore High Court’s order but that the Supreme Court had “no reason to doubt the ability and competence” of the former.
Justice Minallah agreed with the opinion of Justices Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Jamal Khan Mandokhail and the final outcome of the petitions and the suo motu assumption of jurisdiction by a majority of 4 to 3.
