SC to resume hearing in Punjab CM election case

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court will resume hearing on Tuesday (today) on the ruling by Deputy Speaker Punjab Assembly in the recently-held chief minister’s election.

A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Atta Bandial will resume hearing at 11:30 today.

Extraordinary security arrangements have been made at the top court ahead of the hearing with strict checking on the roads. There is also a ban on the entry of political party workers, lawyers, political figures and media representatives.

It must be mentioned that the coalition government has announced to boycott the hearing after its plea to form a full bench was rejected by the Supreme Court, saying that more legal clarification was required.

The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) demanded the formation of a full court bench of the Supreme Court, saying this would defeat all conspiracies against democracy.

The PDM leaders said they were not objecting to the powers of the apex court, however, they only wanted all judges should hear the petition and their verdict should be acceptable to all.

They opined during the past few years it was observed that a bench comprising specific three judges has been listening to cases of political nature.

At present, a three-member Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Umar Atta Bandial is hearing the case filed by PML-Q)leader Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi who had challenged ruling of Deputy Speaker Punjab Assembly during the election of Chief Minister Punjab.

JUI-F Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman said the coalition government desires that a full court bench should hear the Punjab chief minister’s election case. He said the formation of full court bench was demand of the justice and there should be no controversy in its verdict in the larger national interest.

Seconding PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz’s views, Maulana Fazl said the government wanted to strengthen the judiciary but “their decisions should also speak themselves”.

The PDM chief said the incumbent government was not being allowed to function properly. “The people’s confidence in the state institutions needed to be restored and for that the latter should assess their role and hold themselves accountable,” he added.

Maryam Nawaz said during the last few years, there was a series of “startling decisions given by the judiciary.” There could be a ‘wrong decision’ but there should not be consistency in that regard as the court verdicts left deep impact on the society for decades.

She said Hamza Shehbaz won the slot of Punjab chief minister in the run-off election, but the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) approached the Lahore Registry of Supreme that also opened late night

Maryam Nawaz expressed concern over the existing system of petition filing and constitution of court benches. She said since Hamza Shehbaz became Punjab’s chief minister, he was unable to perform his duties as he remained stuck up in matters related to ‘the parliament and the court.’

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