ISLAMABAD: A two-member bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) on Thursday reserved verdict in the case of contempt of court by the additional registrar.
A two-member bench of the Supreme Court, consisting of Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Aqeel Abbasi, heard the contempt of court case and reserved the verdict after hearing multiple arguments.
Earlier, in response to the contempt of court notice regarding the rescheduling of the case related to powers of bench, Supreme Court Additional Registrar Nazar Abbas submitted his reply to the show-cause notice.
In his response, Additional Registrar Nazar Abbas requested the withdrawal of the show-cause notice, asserting that he did not defy any judicial orders. He stated that he had submitted a note regarding the matter of forming a bench based on the judicial order to the Practice and Procedure Committee.
Advocate Hamid Khan assisted the bench in the matter and presented his arguments.
Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, engaging in a dialogue with lawyer Hamid Khan, inquired whether a judicial order could be changed administratively.
Advocate Hamid Khan replied that an administrative order could not alter a judicial order. He explained that the Supreme Court’s formation is under Article 175, and judicial power is vested in the entire Supreme Court. The definition of the Supreme Court is clear; all judges are included, and it cannot be stated that only a specific judge can exercise the Supreme Court’s power.
The senior-most judge will head the bench. He argued that since Article 191-A does not align with section 2-A of the Judges Committee Act, it is unconstitutional.
In an exchange of arguments with Ahsan Bhoon, Justice Shah remarked that they weren’t part of the constitutional bench, therfore, were there “for chit-chat only”.
“You would have been successful in establishing a constitutional court if you had pushed a little more,” said Justice Shah.
Bhoon responded that they tried very hard for the constitutional court. He said whichever references were being given here were not effective now after the passage of the 26th constitutional amendment.
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