The Supreme Court has rejected the coalition government’s plea to form a full court bench on petitions related to the Punjab chief minister’s election held on Friday.
Following the decision today, the apex court adjourned the hearing of the case till Tuesday.
Earlier, during the hearing of a petition filed by PTI candidate and PML-Q leader Chaudhry Parvez Elahi against Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Dost Mohammad Mazari’s ruling in the election, which led to PML-N leader Hamza Shahbaz’s victory, the government requested the top court to form a full court bench in the case.
“This is the matter of an entire province. I am not saying that the [bench’s] neutrality is in question. If a full court is constituted, the respect and confidence in court would increase,” Mazari’s lawyer Irfan Qadir said.
“There is an impression that [certain] cases go to the same bench,” he added.
The CJP said that “a full court bench is constituted in serious matters”.
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said that all parties in the government coalition have unanimously decided to boycott court proceedings if their demand to form a full court bench is not met.
“All the political parties have requested the honourable Supreme Court to constitute a full court bench on the issue of the election of the Punjab chief minister … it will increase the respect of the court,” he said.
Last week, the top court had allowed Hamza to retain his position as a “trustee” chief minister till today (Monday), adding that he would have limited powers throughout this period.
