Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's children on Monday filed a request in the Supreme Court seeking a delay in the hearing of their review petitions on the Panamagate case which is due to begin tomorrow.
A three-member of the apex court, headed by Justice Ejaz Afzal and consisting of Justice Azmat Saeed and Justice Ijazul Ahsan, is due to begin hearing review petitions filed by the Sharif family members and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Tuesday.
The request submitted to the apex court today by Maryam Nawaz and her brothers ─ Hussain and Hassan Nawaz ─ asks that a five-member bench, instead of the three-member bench, hear the review petitions and consequently, delay Tuesday's scheduled hearing.
The July 28 decision of the apex court that disqualified Nawaz was final ─ not temporary, says the request, adding that the verdict was signed by the five judges who announced it.
Therefore, the same five-member bench or a bench of the same size should hear the review applications, the request concludes.
Last month, the children and son-in-law of Nawaz Sharif had moved a review petition before the Supreme Court, questioning its July 28 directions to supervise future proceedings in the trial court.
The petition highlighted that the Constitution did not confer upon the apex court the jurisdiction to superintend or oversee proceedings of the subordinate judiciary.
The only provision that conferred jurisdiction to superintend subordinate judiciary was Article 203 of the Constitution, under which only a high court could monitor the subordinate judiciary, the review petition said.
Along with the review petitions, a stay application was also submitted in the court, requesting the apex court to suspend the final operation of the July 28 judgement, in which the National Accountability Bureau was ordered to institute corruption references against the petitioners, till the petitions were pending.
