ISLAMABAD: The crisis within the alleys of law seems to be deepening as a six-member larger bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) disposed of a suo moto notice pertaining to the award of grace marks to a Hafiz-e-Quran for admission to a medical degree program.
The case was still under adjudication by a three-judge bench headed by Justice Qazi Faez Isa.
This is the same case in which Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Aminuddin Khan had issued an interim order in the case in which they had raised objections to the suo moto powers of the chief justice.
The bench ordered the postponement of cases being heard under Article 184(3) of the Constitution till the amendments made in the Supreme Court Rules 1980 regarding the discretionary powers of the Chief Justice of Pakistan to form benches.
However, Justice Shahid Waheed, the third member of the bench, did not agree with the view.
The strain among the judges of the top court became visible when the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial took suo moto notice of the delay in holding polls in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) in February.
He formed a nine-member bench which was dismantled after its members recused. The verdict in the case was ultimately passed the verdict to hold polls by 3-2 majority.
The six-member larger bench headed by Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan heard the case while the previous bench had adjourned the case. Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Sayed Mazahar Naqvi, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Ayesha Malik and Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi were part of the bench.
The larger bench said that the three-judge bench had issued an interim order in the case.
The bench closed the case as the hearing continued for less than five minutes.
Earlier, CJP Umar Ata Bandial rejected a judgment made by two top court judges, Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Aminuddin Khan, regarding suo moto jurisdiction of the top judge.
In their decision, the judges had called for the postponement of “suo motu” matters until changes were made to Supreme Court Rules 1980 regarding the discretionary powers of the country’s top judge to form benches.
Justice Isa and Justice Khan had stated in their 12-page judgment that the Constitution did not give the CJP unilateral and arbitrary power to list cases for hearing, form special benches, and select judges.
Justice Isa had also proposed postponing cases under Article 184(3) of the Constitution until changes were made to the rules governing the CJP’s discretionary powers.
The order had been passed in relation to a “suo motu” case about the 2018 regulation of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC), which proposed awarding 20 additional marks to candidates for memorizing the Holy Quran by heart to obtain MBBS or BDS degrees.
The CJP’s observations were included in a circular issued by SC Registrar Ishrat Ali on the matter.
The CJP said that Justice Isa and Justice Khan’s observations “travel beyond the lis before the court and invoke its suo motu jurisdiction.” He stated that such an “unilateral assumption of judicial power” violated rules established by a five-member judge referred to as the “Enforcement of Fundamental Rights with regard to Independence of Press/Media (PLD 2022 SC 306).”
The CJP added that the power to invoke “suo motu” jurisdiction should be exercised by the Chief Justice on the recommendation of an honorable judge or a learned bench of the court based on the criteria laid down in Article 184(3) of the Constitution.
He further stated that any observation made in the judgment regarding the fixation or otherwise of cases should also be disregarded.
Therefore, the CJP instructed the Registrar to issue a circular stating the above legal position.
Read more: SCP forms larger bench to hear Justice Isa’s ruling on suo motu matters
