The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the government to give assurance that it would take steps to lower the feverish political temperature in the country, before adjourning the hearing of the PTI petition against the election delay case till today (Thursday).
During the hearing, the five-member larger bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial, hotly debated whether the court’s March 1 order was given with a 4-3 majority or 3-2.
The confusion emerged after the SC resumed the hearing of the election delay case Wednesday, a day after a hard-hitting resolution was passed by the National Assembly holding “undue interference by the judiciary in political matters as a cause of political instability in the country”.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has filed a petition against the ECP’s March 22 order postponing the elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa citing multiple reasons.
The bench comprises Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Amin-Ud-Din Khan and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail as members.
At the outset of the hearing, Justice Mandokhail clarified his remarks from the previous hearing, saying that it had caused “great confusion”.
“I stand by my detailed order,” the justice said, explaining that one part of the judgment was about the administrative powers. He said that the CJP would be asked to form a judges’ committee to look into the rules of administrative powers.
“In the second part of the verdict, four of us judges rejected the suo motu notice and pleas,” he said, adding that the judgment by the four judges was the order of the court.
