PTI-SIC urges Supreme Court to release ‘order of the court’ in reserved seats case

   

• PTI claims Justice Mandokhail issued dissenting note.
• Says order lacks signatures of Justice Ayesha and Justice Abbasi.
• Seeks certified copies of individual decisions of all judges.

The Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), an ally of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), on Monday urged the Supreme Court to issue a written order in the reserved seats case bearing the signatures of all 12 honourable judges of the apex court bench.

The development came days after the SC’s Constitutional Bench accepted review petitions by the majority of 7 to 5 judges and ruled that the Imran Khan-founded party was not entitled to seats reserved for women and minorities in the national and provincial assemblies.

On June 27, the verdict was announced by a 10-member bench headed by Justice Aminuddin Khan. Initially the constitutional bench was constituted for hearing of the review petitions by 13 judges of the court, but two of them — Justice Ayesha A Malik and Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi — on the first date of hearing, dismissed all review petitions, the short order noted down.

Justice Salahuddin Panhwar, recused himself from sitting on the bench for certain reasons.

Announcing the short ruling, Justice Aminuddin Khan said, “Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Mussarat Hilali, Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan, Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan, Justice Hashim Khan Kakar, Justice Aamir Farooq and Justice Ali Baqar Najafi all review petitions are allowed and impugn majority judgement dated July 12, 2024 is set aside as a consequence thereof civil appeals … filed by SIC are dismissed and judgement rendered by the PHC is restored.”

In its plea, the SIC said that it was stated in the May 6 order of the top court that the opinions of the judges who disagreed with the final decision would also be included.

“The signatures of Justice Ayesha Malik and Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi are not present on the short order issued on June 27,” read the plea.

In the petition today, the SIC said that it was a matter of fundamental rights and public interest, adding that the judgment issued with the signatures of 12 judges would be considered “more effective”.

The plea was filed by Barrister Hamid Khan on behalf of the SIC.

Meanwhile, the PTI penned a letter to the SC registrar, calling on him to release the order of the court bearing the signatures of 12 judges in the reserved seats case.

In his letter, PTI’s Salman Akram Raja said that June 27’s short order carried the signatures of only 10 judges.

Signatures of 12 judges on the short order became mandatory after Justice Salahuddin Panhwar recused himself from being a part of the Constitutional Bench hearing review plea in the reserved seats case, read the letter.     

Raja further said that Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail gave a dissenting opinion, while Justices Mazhar and Hasan Azhar also had separate views.

The PTI leader urged the SC registrar to provide them with certified copies of the individual decisions of all honourable judges of the bench.