ISLAMABAD, March 20: The opposition has put off the plan to submit requisition requests for special sessions of the National Assembly and Senate to debate the prevailing judicial crisis over the controversial suspension of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and references against him, an opposition spokesman said on Tuesday.

He said earlier plans to send requisition requests for the sessions to National Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain and Senate Chairman Mohammedmian Soomro possibly on Tuesday were put on hold in view of some developments, including an announcement by the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), hearing the references against the chief justice, to defer its hearing set for Wednesday until April 3.

Another factor influencing the opposition thinking seemed to be the expected return this week from leave in India of the next senior-most Supreme Court Judge, Rana Bhagwandas, who must then take over as the acting chief justice and head the five-judge SJC instead of the present acting Chief Justice Javed Iqbal.

“The requisitions (for the National Assembly and Senate sessions) are ready and may be filed at an appropriate time in the future,” Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy parliamentary secretary Izhar Amrohvi told Dawn.

The identical rules of procedure of the two houses require the National Assembly speaker and the Senate chairman to summon their respective houses to session within 15 days of receiving a requisition request.

It was unclear whether the government would follow a tentative schedule to call the National Assembly session on March 26, in which case the opposition is likely to use the occasion to lambaste the government over President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s unprecedented move against a chief justice and use of force by police against protesting lawyers and political activists as well as police assaults on the media.

Members of opposition parties in the National Assembly and Senate have already sent notices for moving adjournment and other motions seeking debates on events relating to the judicial crisis.