A five-member larger bench on Monday referred the matter to Acting Chief Justice Rana Bhagwandas to constitute a full court to hear more than thirty petitions filed by Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and others, and stayed proceedings of the Supreme Judicial Council till the decision of the full court.
The larger bench of the apex court comprising Justice M. Javed Buttar, Justice Nasirul Mulk, Justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmed, Justice Chaudhry Ejaz Ahmed and Justice Hamid Ali Mirza, heard arguments by both sides and announced a short order.
According to the short order, the matter is referred to the Acting the Chief Justice for the constitution of a full court except judges who are members of the Supreme Judicial Council. Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan has already expressed his inability to sit in the bench to be constituted for the hearing of the petitions.
"Further proceedings before the Supreme Judicial Council will, however, remain stayed till the hearing of the cases by the full court and the applications for interim relief shall be placed before the full court," the order said.
Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and others including Pakistan Bar Council, Supreme Court Bar Association, Adaliya Bachao Committee and Watan Party have filed more than thirty petitions in the Supreme Court challenging the composition, powers, conduct and orders of the Supreme Judicial Council.
Earlier, counsels of the respondents including the Referring Authority and the Federation in various petitions, Sharifuddin Pirzada and Malik Muhammad Qayyum, submitted their arguments and recalled judgements of the Supreme Court in different cases including Malik Asad Ali Khan case. They called for the constitution of a full court to hear the petitions that have already been clubbed by the Supreme Court.
Responding to a question about the meaning of full court, Sharifuddin Pirzada said, "full court means a bench of all the judges of the Supreme Court excluding three judges of the Supreme Court including Acting Chief Justice who are members of the Supreme Judicial Council and Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan."
Sahibzada Ahmed Raza Khan Kasuri and Rai Ahmed Nawaz Kharal also presented their arguments before the bench in favour of the constitution of full court. Raja Ibrahim Satti gave an explanation about the submission of applications in the Supreme Court requesting the Acting Chief Justice to constitute the full court.
Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan opposed the demand made by the counsels of the respondents regarding constitution of the full court and gave reference of various judgements passed by the Supreme Court from time to time in different cases. He also requested the Bench to stay the proceedings of the Supreme Judicial Council that was accepted by the Bench in the short order.
Mujeeb Pirzada Advocate, Barrister Farooq Hassan, Barrister Zafarullah Khan and Shoaib Shaheen also presented their arguments and opposed the constitution of the full court. Talking about the importance of the case, Justice M.Javed Buttar said, "We are aware about the importance of legal issues involved in this case." Attorney General Makhdoom Ali Khan also appeared before the court on notice and apprised the bench about the Supreme Judicial Council that had also been made a respondent in the petitions.
Maulvi Iqbal Haider appeared before the bench and raised objections over the formation of the larger bench. He said sister of a judge has organised a procession in favour of Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. Another member of the bench, he said, is a cousin of the wife of Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
Maulvi Iqbal further said a petition is already pending before the Supreme Court against a judge in which his ad-hoc appointment has been challenged. Maulvi Iqbal Haider requested the bench to hear his petition before the other petitions. Justice M.Javed Buttar and other members of the bench told him that the bench could not hear a matter that is not before the bench. The petitions in the Supreme Court have been filed under Article 184 (3) of the Constitution.
The petitioners have challenged the competence and constitution of the SJC and also raised the question whether a reference can at all be filed under Article 209 of the Constitution against the Chief Justice of Pakistan.
The Referring Authority, the Federation of Pakistan, the Supreme Judicial Council, Registrar of the Supreme Court, Registrar of the Sindh High Court and Registrar of the Lahore High Court have been made respondents in most of the petitions.