ISLAMABAD - A three-member bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial, will today take up the matter related to releasing of Rs21 billion to the Election Commission of Pakistan for holding general elections in Punjab.
However, the Chief Justice will not sit in the regular bench in the courtroom no.1 and according to the roster will do ‘chamber work’.
The Registrar on Wednesday delisted all the cases fixed before Bench No, 1 comprising Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail and Justice Athar Minallah and Bench II comprising Justice Sardar Tariq Masood and Justice Shahid Waheed. The roster for Bench 1 of the apex court was revised due to the ‘indisposition’ of Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial and non-availability of Justice Tariq Masood. The SC Registrar Office issued a notification; “It is to inform that the Court Roster regarding Bench-I for Wednesday, 26th April 2023, has been revised due to the indisposition of the Hon’ble Chief Justice of Pakistan.” The apex court on April 20 had asked all political parties to evolve a consensus on the date for holding simultaneous general elections of the National Assembly and the four provincial assemblies expeditiously; otherwise, the court noted, its order regarding the Punjab Assembly elections on May 14 would come into force. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Khawaja Saad Rafique, Qamar Zaman Kaira from PPPP; Engineer Sabir Hussain Kaimkhani from MQM(P); Tariq Bashir Cheema from PML(Q); Israr Ullah Tareen from BAP, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Vice President, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI), Sardar Ayaz Sadiq duly instructed on behalf of BNP (Mengal), and Ameer Jamat-e-Islami Siraj-ul-Haq had appeared before the court in the case. The JI Ameer had suggested a timeframe under which two important events ought to be accounted for: firstly, the wheat harvesting season in May and secondly the occasion of Hajj. According to him, general elections could be held immediately thereafter.
