ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has urged the Supreme Court to constitute a larger bench for hearing of its review petition on “cricket bat” symbol case, as the matter requires constitutional interpretation.
The PTI, on Saturday, filed an application under Section 4 of Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act, 2023, read with Order XXXVIII Rule 5 of the Supreme Court Rules, 1980, for referring the review petition to the Committee for formation of a larger bench.
A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, and comprising Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Musarrat Hilali will resume the hearing of PTI’s review petitions from tomorrow (Monday).
The PTI submitted that the review petition is liable to be accepted and be heard and decided by a larger bench as substantial questions of law of great public importance in relation to the interpretation of the constitution are directly and substantially in issue.
The petitioner also stated that the Election Commission of Pakistan, being a constitutional and statutory body performing regulatory and quasi-judicial functions, was not an “aggrieved person” and that its such stance and insistence upon depriving the petitioner of its electoral symbol through its decision made it a partisan party in contravention of the mandate under Article 218 (3) of the constitution. The apex court misled itself by overruling the said objection by misplacing its reliance upon Javed Hashmi’s case.
The PTI further stated that the Supreme Court’s judgment (January 13, 2024) is per in curam as it ignored two judgments of the larger bench of the apex court in Benazir Bhutto vs. Federation (PLD 1988 SC 416) and Benazir Bhutto vs. Federation (PLD 1989 SC 66), and also overlooked the legislative changes made in Article 17 through 18th Amendment.
The PTI review petition was fixed on October 11, 24 but the bench adjourned the hearing as none of its lawyers appeared to argue the petition against the SC order/judgment on intra-party elections. Only senior advocate Hamid Khan filed an application for adjournment, whereas other PTI’s counsels did not appear without intimation.
In the appeal against the Peshawar High Court, in addition to Hamid Khan, other lawyers including Barrister Ali Zafar, Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, Ajmal Ghaffar Toor, Niazullah Khan Niazi, and Advocate on Record Muhammad Sharif Janjua represented the PTI.
The bench in the interest of justice had adjourned the appeal, but made it clear that no further request for adjournment will be entertained, and expected that the case will proceed on the next date (October 21).
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024