ISLAMABAD, Mar 30 (EW): A three-member Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Qazi Faez Isa ordered to put on hold all suo moto cases till rules were framed.
The three-member bench headed by Justice Qazi Faez Isa and comprising Justice Aminuddin and Justice Shahid Waheed issued the two-to-one verdict, which said all cases of Article 184-3 should be postponed until the rules were framed.
According to the judgment, “the chief justice of Pakistan does not have the authority to form a special bench, nor does the chief justice have any authority to form a special bench under the Supreme Court rules.” The verdict also said that one judge from different benches was included in the special , and in one instance, a case was fixed for hearing at the end of the court timing.
The bench said in its verdict that the people of Pakistan hold the MPs accountable at the time of election and the MPs were accountable to the people. The verdict further said that the bureaucracy is accountable to the government under the law, but the judiciary is (under the current rules) not answerable to anyone.
The verdict held that the chief justice did not have the power to exclude a judge from a bench after constituting it. A judge can be accountable to the Supreme Judicial Council but not to the judiciary.
According to the verdict, the chief justice cannot thrust his wisdom upon the “constitution because the constitution does not give unilateral and unbridled power the chief justice.”
In his dissenting note, Justice Shahid Waheed wrote that the matters on which the verdict is given were not in front of them.
A five-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial is currently hearing a suo moto case pertaining to Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa elections.
The judgment, authored by Justice Qazi Faez Isa, said there were no rules for hearing suo moto cases and setting up benches. Until rules are framed, hearing on important constitutional and suo moto cases should be deferred, the verdict said.
