ISLAMABAD – The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Monday announced the detailed verdict in the suo motu case pertaining to the delay in elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The 57-page judgement, which also includes 14 pages of dissenting notes, has been written by Justice Muneeb Akhtar. The judgement says that elections should be held as prescribed in the Constitution. Every assembly has the status of a separate unit and the Constitution provides a complete mechanism for fresh elections if an assembly is dissolved before completion of its term.
The verdict says it’s wrong to say that it was a 4-3 verdict. It says how can it be called a 4-3 judgement when a seven-member bench was not formed at all.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial had initially formed a nine-member larger bench to hear the case.
The detailed judgement says the nine-member larger bench conducted the first hearing in this case on February 23 and then held a meeting in the tea room. At the meeting, all nine judges made a unanimous decision, which was announced on February 27. In the detailed judgement, a reference has been given to the order to reconstitute the bench.
The judgement says the chief justice formed only two benches; first a nine-member bench and then a five-member bench. There is no reference to any other bench in this case.
Justice Munib Akhtar wrote in the judgement that the judges who signed the February 27 order – Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Yahya Afridi – had left it to the chief justice to decide if they should remain on the bench or not.
He said that parliamentary democracy was an integral part of the Constitution. He said there was no concept of parliamentary democracy without the parliament and the assemblies.
