CJP explains why Arshad Sharif case was not heard by larger court – Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa has said that the Arshad Sharif case was not decided before a larger five-judge bench as it did not require any constitutional interpretation.

The CJP stated the reason on August 1 while chairing the meeting of the committee formed under the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act, 2023 to settle the cases.

The meeting took place after Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, who was heading a three-judge bench, referred the matter to the committee on the grounds that a larger bench of five judges had already heard the matter and it should be decided before a bench with the same number of judges.

According to the minutes of the meeting, the CJP stressed that unless a matter requires interpretation of constitutional provisions, it need not be decided before a five-judge bench and a regular bench can hear such matters.

Justices Shah and Munib Akhtar, who are the other two members of the commission, said the case had been heard earlier by a five-judge bench. Therefore, a similar bench could be reconstituted.

Since the two judges disagreed with the CJP’s reasons, the committee decided to settle the matter before a five-judge bench comprising Justices Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Ayesha A. Malik, Athar Minallah and Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi.

The committee also considered a July 30 letter written by ad hoc judges Sardar Tariq Masood and Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel requesting that more cases be brought before them.

The two retired Supreme Court judges, recently appointed as ad hoc judges to deal with pending cases, said that only ten cases had been scheduled before them and they were decided within 70 minutes. The commission decided that additional cases should be scheduled before the ad hoc judges, for which the registrar identified 1,100 old cases.

The committee also constituted a Sharia appellate tribunal comprising CJP, Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan, Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan and fellow ulama Dr Muhammad Khalid Masud and Dr Qibla Ayaz.

Published in Dawn, August 6, 2024