ISLAMABAD, April 14: The Supreme Court will take up on Monday identical petitions, challenging formation of the Supreme Judicial Council and sending of a reference by President Pervez Musharraf against ‘non-functional’ Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

During the last hearing a three-member bench comprising Justice Sardar Mohammad Raza Khan, Justice Chaudhry Ijaz Ahmed and Justice Hamid Ali Mirza had served notices on the president’s secretariat, SJC and the federal government through the ministry of law.

Now the case will be taken up again on April 16.

The petitions had been filed by the Watan Party through Barrister Zafarullah Khan and Adliya Bachao Committee represented by Dr Farooq Hassan.

In his petition, Barrister Zafarullah relied on a judgment of the Supreme Court (PLD 1996 P-324SC Al-Jihad Trust Case) in which it was decided that “acting chief justices were allowed to function for a short time and in the absence of permanent chief justice the composition of the SJC becomes imperfect and the body as such becomes unfunctional.”

The chief justice of Pakistan is available; his office is not vacant and he is not on leave nor can he be suspended or removed like other judges of the superior judiciary, the petition pleaded.

Opinion

Editorial

Lawless city
22 Sep, 2023

Lawless city

A GRIM milestone has just been passed in Karachi. The recent death of a teenage robbery victim brings the number of...
Another Sharif trip
22 Sep, 2023

Another Sharif trip

THE sudden arrival of former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif in London, a mere 48 hours after he touched down in...
Delayed elections
Updated 22 Sep, 2023

Delayed elections

If ECP wishes to affirm that it is serious, it should start moving on all pending matters so that the possibility of any further delay is minimised.
What next?
Updated 21 Sep, 2023

What next?

One wonders that if administrative measures were all that were needed to arrest the rupee’s sorry slide, why were they not taken sooner?
Greater representation
21 Sep, 2023

Greater representation

PAKISTAN now stands at a significant juncture, with the names of 11.7m more women added to the voter list, ...
Lost generations
21 Sep, 2023

Lost generations

IF those who wield power in Pakistan think that the nation can progress when tens of millions of its children have...