PM attend elections case in SC: The Supreme Court is set to hear a high-profile case involving the postponement of elections for the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies when Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif arrives.
Today at 11:30am, a Supreme Court panel led by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial will begin hearing a petition brought by the erstwhile ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf.
According to reports in the local media, the premier has instructed members of the federal cabinet to visit the supreme court.
The hearing on Wednesday follows a government initiative to limit the Chief Justice of Pakistan’s (CJP) ability to take suo motu notice. Three senior judges of the top court would be given the discretionary power previously held by the top judge to take a suo motu notice.
Before submitting the revisions to the National Assembly, an urgent meeting of the federal cabinet was held to receive consent.
The change occurred when Pakistan’s chief justice’s authority was to be limited by legislation, as demanded by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday before the National Assembly.
The Supreme Court’s Justices Mansoor Ali Shah and Jamal Khan Mandokhail raised concerns about the “one man show” powers of the chief justice in their thorough rulings in the suo motu case pertaining to the elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa the day before the call was made while speaking in the National Assembly. “History wouldn’t forgive us if legislation wasn’t made,” the premier remarked.
