Four benches including the five-member Shariat Appellate forming the largest single bench will sit in the Supreme Court here during the next judicial week starting from Monday.
There are about a dozen appeals filed by one person on behalf of several landowners and raise a question for adjudication in principle but are of interest to the people displaced by the construction of Tarbela Dam and the Hattar Industrial Estate and similar other projects.
Most of other cases to be heard relate to criminal laws and convictions for murder, theft or attract the mischief of Hadood Ordinance that deals with cases of adultery and fornication.
There are about six appeals from the Federal Government against a decision of the Federal Shariat Court that had ruled against the current electoral system as being non-Islamic.
The Shariat Appellate Bench is composed of Justice Abdul Hamid Dogar, Justice Muhammad Nawaz Abbasi, Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, Justice Dr Allama Khalid Mahmud and Justice Dr Rashid Ahmed Jullundhari.
The other three benches comprise as under:
FIRST BENCH: Chief Justice Nazim Hussain Siddiqui, Justice Javed Iqbal and Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani.
SECOND BENCH: Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Rana Baghwandas and Justice Hamid Ali Mirza.
THIRD BENCH: Justice Deedar Hussain Shah, Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan and Justice Faqir Muhammad Khokhar.