Chief Justice of Pakistan calls delay in hearing of petition on revision of reserved seats ‘unfair’ and ‘unjust’

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Saturday released the minutes of the July 18 meeting of the three-judge Practices and Procedures Committee, during which Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa called for urgent scheduling of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz’s (PML-N) review petition against the reserved seats verdict for hearing.

However, Justices Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Munib Akhtar opposed it, saying many judges among the 13-member original bench were on vacation and awaiting a detailed order.

“It would be unfair and inequitable if the review petitions against the Supreme Court’s decision on reserved seats were not disposed of urgently,” Chief Justice Isa said in the minutes of the meeting. “The review order required the reopening of the Court even though it required the cancellation of vacations.”

The committee, mandated under the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act, 2023, included Justice Munib Akhtar, who is on vacation and participated via video link from Karachi.

According to the minutes, the clerk highlighted two urgent applications filed alongside the motions for review, arguing that a 15-day deadline imposed by the order under review could render the applications ineffective if implemented.

Review petitions have been filed by the ruling PML-N party and its members against the July 13 decision, which awarded additional parliamentary seats to Imran Khan’s PTI.

Earlier this week, a full court overturned decisions by the Peshawar High Court and the Election Commission, restoring the seats reserved for the PTI after designating it as a political party.

At the committee meeting, Justices Mansoor and Akhtar argued that the review petitions should be heard by the entire 13-member bench after the summer recess, when all the judges who heard the original appeals would be available.

They stressed that the petitions for review are not settled until a detailed judgment is rendered by the court.

Chief Justice Isa reiterated the constitutional right of review and asked that this right be given priority over the judges’ vacation schedules.

In response, Justice Akhtar said that the summer vacation was provided for in the rules. Moreover, a Supreme Court rule provided that “the judicial year of the court shall commence on the second Monday of September in each year and shall continue till the commencement of the vacation of the following year.”

Chief Justice Isa extended the start of summer recess until July 15, but acknowledged that the rules do not allow for cancellation once announced, unless it is amended by the full court.

Despite Chief Justice Isa’s dissenting opinion, the majority of the committee decided to schedule the review petitions after the summer recess, thus ensuring that all the judges concerned could meet.

Chief Justice Isa added a separate note, saying that constitutional rights to urgent review and hearings should not be compromised.

“With all due respect, my distinguished colleagues have advanced two untenable reasons for not listing the review petitions for hearing,” he said, adding that no one’s rights can be adversely affected because of an act of the court.

“If such a scenario is accepted, it would be equally valid that the detailed reasons are deliberately delayed or never provided, thus rendering the Constitution, which provides for a petition for review, and the law, which imposes an urgent hearing, totally meaningless,” he said.