ISLAMABAD: A Supreme Court bench on Wednesday held that hearing on all the suo motu cases be postponed until amendments are made to the Supreme Court rules governing the chief justice’s powers.
The apex court bench led by Justice Qazi Faez Isa announced the verdict with 2-1 majority. Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan and Justice Shahid Waheed were the other members of the bench. Justice Shahid Waheed wrote a dissenting note against the order.
The Supreme Court special bench gave the verdict on the suo motu case related to examining the grant of 20 additional marks to a Hafiz-e-Quran student while admitting them for an MBBS/BDS degree.
The order said that the Supreme Court comprises the CJP and all the other judges.
Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial had constituted a 3-member bench to take up the matter, but Justice Qazi Faez Isa objected to the constitution of the bench.
In his dissenting note, Justice Shahid Waheed said, “The points raised and discussed in the order were not subject to the case”.
Justice Qazi Faez Isa wrote the verdict, “The Supreme Court Rules, 1980 (the Rules) neither permit nor envisage special benches. However, a Special Bench comprising of three Judges’ was constituted to hear this case.”
The verdict said that there are three categories of cases regarding Article 184(3) of the Constitution.
“Order XXV of the Rules only attends to the first category of cases. There is no procedure prescribed for the second and third category of cases. The situation is exacerbated as there is no appeal against a decision under Article 184(3) of the Constitution,” said the order.
“The Constitution does not grant the Chief Justice unilateral and arbitrary power to decide the above matters. With respect, the Chief Justice cannot substitute his personal wisdom with that of the Constitution,” the order mentioned.
Meanwhile, in a bid to curtain the suo motu powers of the CJP, the National Assembly approved the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023” with the majority of the votes on Wednesday.
The bill was approved after the National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee on Law and Justice declared it okay for approval.
The development took place after two judges of the top court including Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Jamal Khan Mandohail wrote a dissenting note on the powers of the top judge.
