[image: Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar. PHOTO: FILE]
ISLAMABAD – Another Supreme Court judge has called into question the May2018 reconstitution of an apex court bench by Chief Justice of Pakistan(CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar and called the decision ‘unwarranted andunprecedented’.
The CJP reconstituted a bench, hearing various public interest cases at theSC Peshawar Registry on May 9, 2018.
The bench headed by the CJP earlier comprised Justice Isa and JusticeMansoor Ali Shah. However, during the hearing, the CJP announcedreconstitution of the bench by excluding Justice Isa.
Later, Justice Isa issued a three-page note, raising serious questions overreconstitution of the bench. After the passage of seven months, JusticeMansoor Ali Shah has also endorsed Justice Isa’s objections.
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“The reconstitution of the two-member bench and the proceedings before thesaid bench on 9th May, 2018 in all the cases fixed before it are void andnon-est. I agree with my learned brother Qazi Faez Isa, J that thereconstitution of the bench by the Hon’ble Chief Justice in the presentcase is unwarranted and unprecedented and undermines the integrity of thesystem,” he says in a six-page note.
Justice Shah says in the absence of a recusal by a member of the bench, anyamount of disagreement amongst the members of the bench on an issue beforethem, cannot form a valid ground for reconstitution of the bench, addingthat any reconstitution on this ground would impinge on the constitutionalvalue of independence of judiciary.
