ISLAMABAD, Nov 28: The Supreme Court has decided to resume hearing on Dec 12 a presidential reference about revisiting the 1979 death sentence awarded to former prime minister and PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

The reference will be heard by an 11-judge larger bench under its advisory jurisdiction after a break of over five months.

President Asif Ali Zardari urged Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry on Saturday to fix an early date for hearing on a day-to-day basis in order to conclude it soon. The plea was made in a letter sent to the chief justice through a special messenger a day after the apex court had rejected the federal government's petition for a review of its judgment declaring the controversial National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) illegal and unconstitutional.

On April 2, President Zardari had approached the Supreme Court through a presidential reference under Article 186 of the Constitution to seek its opinion on revisiting the murder trial of Mr Bhutto. In March 1979, a seven-judge Supreme Court bench, in a four-to-three split verdict, had upheld a Lahore High Court verdict sentencing the former prime minister to death during the military regime of Gen Ziaul Haq who had overthrown the Bhutto government in July 1977.

When the hearing on the presidential reference was adjourned on June 29, Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq was presenting his point of view after government's counsel Dr Babar Awan had concluded his arguments. The attorney general had sought time to prepare answers to the questions the president had referred to the court.

Giving reasons for the delay in taking up the matter, a Supreme Court announcement said on Monday that judges on the bench were performing duties at branch registries in different cities. Many of them went abroad for briefings and conferences during the courts' three-month annual summer vacation which ended on Sept 12.

Besides, amici curiae (friends of court) -- Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, Fakharudin G. Ebrahim, Makhdoom Ali Khan, S.M. Zafar, Asma Jehangir and Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan — and Advocate General of Punjab Khawaja Muhammad Haris were on annual leave.

Moreover, the announcement said, during that period a larger bench of the apex court had heard and decided an important case relating to the violence in Karachi. Likewise, three judges on the previous 11-member bench — Justices Javed Iqbal, Mahmood Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui and Ghulam Rabbani — retired while Justice Sair Ali is due to retire on December 11. A full-court reference will be held to honour Justice Sair on Dec 9.

Therefore, the court said, a different bench headed by the chief justice and comprising Justices Mian Shakirullah Jan, Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, Nasir-ul-Mulk, Jawwad S. Khawaja, Anwar Zaheer Jamali, Khilji Arif Hussain, Tariq Parvez, Mian Saqib Nisar, Sarmad Jalal Osmany and Amir Hani Muslim had been fixed to hear the reference on Dec 12.

The court has requested the counsel for the parties and the amici curiae to ensure their presence because it is likely to take up the matter on a day-to-day basis. The court will be on winter vacation from Dec 19 to 31.