ISLAMABAD: In a letter to Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi, seven eminent attorneys have asked that their individual cases contesting the 26th Amendment be expeditiously brought up and heard by the Supreme Court’s full bench.
In a letter to the CJP, it was said that “it goes without saying that the very act of creating a legislative instrument cannot examine the vires of the instrument, that creates it.”
A few of the petitions were filed before the “Constitutional Benches” were established and the new Pakistani Judicial Commission met for the first time. They contained urgent requests for the matter to be listed as well as particular prayers for temporary respite.
According to Section 7 of the SC (Practice and Procedure) Act, 2023, an application requesting interim relief or alleging urgency must be scheduled for hearing within 14 days of the date of filing. The letter stated, “There is no explanation for the delay.”
Senior attorneys ask CJP to have the entire apex court bench hear their individual pleas.
The letter, which was signed by senior counsel Muneer A. Malik, Hamid A. Khan, Abid Shahid Zuberi, Salahuddin Ahmad, Khwaja Ahmad Hosain, Akhtar Mengal, and Zainab Janjua, asked the CJP to also order an investigation into the unusual way the court office handled these petitions and to make sure that all petitions were brought before the full court as previously decided by the majority of the SC Practice and Procedure Committee in its Oct. 31 decision on some of the earlier petitions.
According to the letter, none of the petitions have even been given a number by the registrar, which is even more shocking given that more than a month has passed and the topic is of utmost constitutional and public importance.
The letter also stated that the SC registrar had not communicated any office objections to the petitions.
