ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court’s top three judges disagree on whether to schedule review petitions for hearing that challenge the ruling of the highest court over reserved seats in the national and provincial parliament.
According to a Sunday News report, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa was at odds with Justices Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Munib Akhtar over when to set the review petitions for hearing. The former wanted the matter resolved right away, while the latter preferred to wait until the detailed ruling was released, after summer vacations.
According to CJP Isa, it would be unfair if the pleas weren’t scheduled for a hearing right away. However, Justices Mansoor and Munib thought that it could only be resolved once the 13-member panel had issued a full decision on the July 12 ruling.
Both of the senior justices of the highest court expressed opposition to the proposal during the 17th meeting of the committee established under Section 2 of the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act 2023, which was held on July 18.
Since Justice Munib is on vacation, he joined the meeting via video link.
The committee’s majority opted to schedule the hearing until after summer break, when all of the judges who announced the judgment would be accessible.The committee secretary noted that the petitioners claimed in two urgent applications submitted with the review petitions that the order under review had a 15-day deadline and that the petitions would be rendered unnecessary if that order was carried out.
Justices Mansoor and Munib made the following observations in accordance with order XXVI, Rule 8 of the Supreme Court Rules 1980: since the court is currently on summer vacation and most of its judges are either abroad or on vacation, it would be appropriate to schedule the review petitions before the bench that heard the case initially.
