In a fresh development, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar has said that the Supreme Court’s constitutional bench now has the power to take suo motu notices — an authority that once rested with the chief justice of Pakistan (CJP).
During a hearing of an anti-terrorism case on Friday, Justice Mazhar told a counsel: “Mr advocate, only the procedure has changed after the [26th Constitutional] Amendment. The Supreme Court still retains the authority to take suo motu notice. The only difference now is that suo motu cases will proceed before a constitutional bench.”
The constitutional bench of the Supreme Court heard 16 cases pending for a long time in the apex court on Friday.
Multiple cases were disposed of, hearings of a few cases were adjourned by issuing notices, and several crucial remarks were made by the bench during the case hearings.
The new bench, constituted under the 26th Constitutional Amendment, held its first-ever hearing of cases on Thursday, aiming to clear the large backlog and provide justice to petitioners.
The Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan-led bench had to hear around 34 cases as per the cause list for November 14 and 15. Eighteen of these cases were scheduled for Thursday and the remaining 16 set for Friday (today).
With Justice Khan in the lead, the constitutional bench includes Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Musarrat Hilali and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan.Play Video
Following the conclusion of the hearing of today’s cases, the SC constitutional bench has issued its cause list from November 18 to 22.
The plea pertaining to declaring the inclusion of independent candidates in a political party as mandatory has been fixed for hearing on November 18, whereas, a hearing on a petition challenging the Sunni Ittehad Council’s declaring as a parliamentary party will be held on November 20.
