Staff Reporter
Islamabad
The Supreme Court’s Judge Justice Yahya Afridi has emphasised the need for structuring the unfettered powers of the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) to form benches and exercise suo motu powers.
“To maintain judicial discipline and to uphold the rule of law, there is an inherent and dire need for judicial introspection; to structure the unfettered discretion of the worthy Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to constitute benches of the Supreme Court to hear and decide cases under Article 184(3), and in particular, suo motu actions, lest the exercise of such jurisdiction may be seen to have been abused,” said Justice Afridi in his dissenting note while dismissing Justice Qazi Faez Isa’s petition against the presidential reference. Justice Afridi, however, observed that passing any definite findings on this crucial matter in the current petition would not only be swaying from the issue in hand but also, on many counts, would be premature, as the matter was already sub judice before the Supreme Court.
The judge noted that the scope and extent of the term “matters of public importance”, as provided under Article 184(3) of the Constitution, had been an issue of perennial deliberation of the top court.
