ISLAMABAD: A reconstituted Supreme Court (SC) bench will resume hearing the case pertaining to the delay in elections for Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa assemblies today.
Justice Amin-Ud-Din Khan had on Thursday recused himself from the five-member bench hearing the election delay case after a Supreme Court order halted proceedings by the country courts under Article 184(3). The Supreme Court was all set to resume the hearing of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) plea against the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to defer the elections in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa at 11:30 but the hearing was postponed following Justice Amin-Ud-Din’s recusal.
It is to mention here that a Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Qazi Faez Isa had, on Wednesday, ordered postponement of cases being heard under Article 184(3) of the constitution until the Supreme Court Rules 1980 regarding the discretionary powers of the chief justice to form benches are amended.
Justice Amin-ud-Din concurred with Justice Qazi Faez Isa while Justice Shahid Waheed dissented with the majority order of 2-1 in a suo-moto case regarding grant of 20 marks to Hafiz-e-Quran students seeking admission to MBBS/BDS Degree programme under Regulation 9(9) of the MBBS and BDS (Admissions, House Job and Internship) Regulations, 2018.
At the outset of the Thursday’s hearing, when the five-member bench came to the courtroom, Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial said Justice Amin wanted to say something. “I recuse myself from the instant case in light of Supreme Court order issued by Justice Qazi Faez Isa,” the judge stated. The original bench comprised Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan, Justice Muneeb Akhtar, Justice Amin-ud-Din, and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail.
SC to resume hearing at 11:30 a.m.
As per the Supreme Court officials, the bench will resume hearing of the case at 11:30 a.m. today (Friday) without Justice Khan. The PTI had moved the Supreme Court following the ECP decision postponing the Punjab polls from April 30 to October 8 citing financial and security reasons.