The recent bench fixing in the Supreme Court reflects that there are divisions among the judges, analysts said on Thursday.
Speaking to journalist Asad Ali Toor, analyst Hassan Ayub revealed that the CJP made commitments with a few judges who were elevated, but they weren’t fulfilled.
According to senior reporter Hasnaat Malik, Justice Athar Minallah had questioned the dissolution of the provincial assemblies, and the CJP praised him for that.
But when he went on to make it a part of the ruling from a legal standpoint, another judge expressed reservations about it.
Malik said that the judge belonged to the like-minded group, and so CJP Bandial didn’t go ahead with Minallah’s suggestion, drawing his ire.
The analysts added that the divisions in the top court are damaging its very core, and this in turn is impacting the cases.
They said that the ideal way forward in this situation is for the top judge to approach the dissenting judges and take them onboard.
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“The CJP is an otherwise very calm individual, and he hasn’t issued any contempt notices during his tenure.” The journalists further said that it is the right time to stop the crisis from escalating further.
Earlier today, Justice Aminuddin Khan recused himself from a five-member bench hearing the case related to the delay in elections after an apex court’s order halted proceedings under Article 184(3).
The Supreme Court was scheduled to continue hearing the PTI appeal against the ECP’s decision to postpone the elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. But, the hearing was postponed due to Justice Aminuddin’s recusal.
On Wednesday, a three-member bench of SC ruled that hearing of all cases under Article 184(3), which is related to the CJP’s suo motu powers, be postponed till amendments in the SC rules.
“The interest of citizens therefore will be best served to postpone the hearing of this case, and of all other cases under article 184(3) of the Constitution, till the matters noted hereinabove are first attended to by making requisite rules in terms of article 191 of the Constitution,” the order read.
