ISLAMABAD: The federal government and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) have backed the Supreme Court Bar Association’s (SCBA) review plea against the apex court’s May 2022 verdict on Article 63-A.
The top court back then had declared that the dissident members of a parliamentary party cannot cast votes against their party’s directives.
The development comes as a SC larger bench, led by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa on Tuesday heard the review petition. The newly formed bench comprises Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan.
The existing bench was constituted after Justice Munib Akhtar, on Monday, expressed unavailability from being part of the bench — the reasons for which the latter communicated to the apex court’s registrar in multiple letters.
A day earlier, CJP Isa had adjourned the hearing due to Justice Munib’s absence and said that Justice Munib would be requested to rejoin the bench, which otherwise, would be reconstituted.
Elaborating on the reasons behind his unavailability from yesterday’s hearing, Justice Munib has said that he did not recuse from the bench, saying he cannot be a part of a bench that was constituted by the Practice and Procedure Committee — the three-member judges’ committee of the apex court which decides on the formation of the SC benches and cases related to human rights.
