Justice Ijazul Ahsan (left), CJP Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Munib Akhtar (right). — Supreme Court website
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday adjourned the hearing of the Punjab election review case and the Supreme Court Review of Judgements and Orders Act 2023 — which mandates the establishment of a larger bench for reviewing a suo motu judgement — till May 13.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial had clubbed the Punjab election review case and the Review Order Act case earlier in the day.
The bench headed by the top judge also includes Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar.
Review Order Act
The petitioner Advocate Riaz Hanif Rahi in his plea against the Review of Judgements and Orders Act 2023 requested the court to “set aside [the Act] as unconstitutional being Ultra Vires, void ab-initio and issued without jurisdiction [and] of no legal effect.”
The petition filed by Rahi made the government a respondent through the Ministry of Law and Justice Secretary and Senate Secretariat Secretary Muhammad Qasim Samad Khan.
Citing Articles 188 and 191 of the Constitution, it contended that the law is “unconstitutional” and has been passed by the government for “its personal advantage to avoid the regime of present CJP without taking into consideration the public interest”.
Rahi further submitted that the respondents had no jurisdiction to go beyond their constitutional limits under “extraneous considerations and ulterior motives”.
The law came into effect on May 5, 2023.
Referring to the Act, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar alluded to Article 188 of the Constitution and said it [the law] empowers the SC subject to the provision of any Act of Majlis-e-Shoora and any rules made by the top court, to review any judgement pronounced or any order made by it. He said the latest legislation is procedural in nature.
The law minister said the bill was formulated under the spirit of Article 188 of the Constitution.
ECP’s petition
In the previous hearing of the ECP’s petition challenging the SC’s right to announce a date for holding elections in the province of Punjab, CJP Bandial had indefinitely adjourned the hearing after Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan cited the review of judgement order.
The brief hearing came to an end after the AGP had informed the bench that the review order had come into effect.
The electoral watchdog in its petition had earlier submitted that, under the Constitution, the power of the announcement of the date for the general elections is vested in bodies other than any judicial institution; therefore, the impugned order under review had “breached the salient principle of the trichotomy of powers and thus is not sustainable”.
Moreover, the ECP had submitted that in the presence of an elected government in Punjab, the general elections to the National Assembly cannot be conducted fairly.
More to follow…
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