On Monday, the Supreme Court rejected the coalition government’s request to form a full court bench on petitions related to the recently held Punjab chief minister’s re-election. According to the verdict against the full court bench request, the three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial, will hear PML-Q leader Chaudhry Parvez Elahi’s petition, challenging Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Dost Mohammad Mazari’s controversial ruling in the chief minister’s re-election.
Elahi Filed a Petition for a Full Court Bench After the Ruling Made by the Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker
Earlier, Justice Bandial remarked that the head of a political party will “also have to listen to the parliamentary party’s opinion”, as the hearing of the petition lodged by PML-Q leader Chaudhry Parvez Elahi against Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Dost Muhammad Mazari remained underway. Elahi’s filed a petition for a full court bench in the wee hours of Saturday after a ruling by the Punjab Assembly deputy speaker led to his defeat in the Punjab CM election and Hamza Shehbaz’s re-appointment as the province’s chief executive.
Subsequently, Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman administered the oath on Saturday to Hamza Shehbaz as chief minister. A three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justices Ijazul Ahsan and Munib Akhtar, heard the case on Saturday and after prolonged proceedings, adjourned it for Monday and appointed Hamza “Trustee CM” till then. Now, the court hearing is expected to begin after 1 pm after the rejection of the full court bench request.
Supreme Court Would See the Matters in the Light of the Constitution
While Hamza Shehbaz took the oath as CM Punjab, Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial stated that the oath does not matter in front of the court and SC would see the matters in the light of the constitution. On Saturday, the apex court summoned Mazari as Bandial wanted to hear his remarks personally however, Mazari failed to appear and his lawyer represented him instead. Bandial added that this conflict was created due to the inexperience of members and Pakistan was waiting in vain to hear the verdict of this case.
Read more: Supreme Court rules in favor of Google in a copyright fight with Oracle Corp
