Elections delay case: SC’s five-member bench dissolved

ISLAMABAD (Agencies): Justice Amin-Ud-Din Khan on Thursday recused himself from a five-member bench hearing the election delay case after a Supreme Court order halted proceedings under Article 184(3).

The Supreme Court was 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 delayed following Justice Amin-Ud-Din’s recusal.

An SC bench headed by Justice Qazi Faez Isa on Wednesday ordered the postponement of cases being heard under Article 184(3) of the Constitution till the amendments made in the Supreme Court Rules 1980 regarding the discretionary powers of the chief justice to form benches.

Justice Amin-Ud-Din concurred with Justice Isa while Justice Shahid Waheed dissented with the majority order of 2-1 in a suo moto case regarding the grant of 20 marks to Hafiz-e-Quran students while seeking admission to MBBS/BDS Degree under Regulation 9(9) of the MBBS and BDS (Admissions, House Job and Internship) Regulations, 2018.

At the outset of Thursday’s hearing, when the five-member bench came to the courtroom, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial said Justice Amin wanted to say something. “I recuse myself from the instant case in light of SC order issued by Justice Qazi Faez Isa,” the judge stated.

The original bench comprised CJP Bandial, Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Aminuddin, and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail. As per the Supreme Court, the bench will resume hearing of the case at 11:30am from tomorrow (Friday) without Justice Khan.

The PTI moved the apex court following the ECP decision to postpone the Punjab polls from April 30 to October 8 after financial and security authorities expressed their inability to support the electoral process. During yesterday’s hearing, Justice Mandokhail debated the merits of the case as the order of the court was yet to be issued by the Supreme Court. While the Supreme Court has also sought assurance from the government to tone down the political temperature of the country.