ISLAMABAD , April 27, 2023: A three-member Supreme Court bench, headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, is all set to resume hearing elections delay suo moto today. The hearing is scheduled at 11:30am.
At the last hearing, the court had asked political parties to hold talks on April 26 and come up with a response by April 27 after giving stakeholders a chance to reach an agreement. Political parties had been asked to decide the matter quickly, since the May 14 date for elections was still in the field and the order was binding on all authorities.
The new cause list was released by the SC registrar on Wednesday. The three-member bench comprises Cheif Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Ijazul Ahsan.
However, it should be noted that Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial is reportedly unwell and will not hear any other case today. The sudden delisting of the bench resulted in the cancellation of all the cases scheduled for hearing on Wednesday (yesterday).
The delisted bench was supposed to hear 12 important cases. After the delisting of bench number one, the list of cases of bench number two was also cancelled.
The cause list of the bench, comprising Justice Sardar Tariq Masood and Justice Shahid Waheed, was also cancelled. The hearing regarding the elections in Punjab is expected to be a significant one, with many eagerly awaiting the outcome of the case.
Plea submitted to prevent caretaker governments
On Wednesday two pleas were submitted to the apex court; one by the PTI seeking restraining orders against caretaker governments in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while another sought appointment of a caretaker prime minister and the chief election commissioner for transparent polls.
Filed by Tariq A Rahim and Imtiaz Rashid Siddiqui, the PTI’s petition asked the court to stop Punjab Caretaker Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi and KP Caretaker CM Azam Khan from exercising their power. It said that appropriate orders be issued to regulate day to day operations of the two provinces under the supervision of the apex court.
Another petition filed by Zahoor Mehdi Faisal sought the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, PM Shehbaz Sharif, PDM leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman, and President Dr Arif Alvi, calling them “partisans”.