The Judicial Commission constituted a constitutional bench with a majority of seven members against five (File photo: AFP).
In the first meeting of the newly constituted Judicial Commission of Pakistan, Justice Aminuddin Khan has been appointed as the head of the first seven-member constitutional bench of the Supreme Court by majority vote.
Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Yahya Afridi along with three senior judges of the Supreme Court opposed the appointment of Justice Aminuddin Khan.
According to the statement issued after the meeting, the Chief Justice and the other two senior judges of the Supreme Court, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Muneeb Akhtar, will not be part of the Constitution Bench.
On Tuesday, the meeting of the newly constituted Judicial Commission was held in the Supreme Court of Pakistan under the chairmanship of Chief Justice Yahya Afridi. All 12 members of the Judicial Commission participated in the meeting.
Setting another stage in the judicial history in the context of the 26th constitutional amendment passed by the Parliament of Pakistan, the Judicial Commission of Pakistan has constituted a seven-member bench for the first time in the country’s history.
Justice Aminuddin Khan has been appointed as the head of the seven-member constitutional bench. The Commission has decided the first phase of the formation of constitutional benches under the 26th constitutional amendment in the Supreme Court.
The Judicial Commission has appointed Justice Aminuddin Khan as the head of the bench while forming a seven-member constitutional bench.
Other members of the bench include Justice Jamal Khan Mandukhel, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Ayesha A. Malik, Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Musrat Hilali and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan.
Who stood on which side in the Judicial Commission meeting?
The Judicial Commission constituted a constitution bench with a majority of seven members against five. Keeping in view the constitutional requirement, representation from all the provinces has been included in the bench. Two each from Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan while one judge from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been included in the bench.
Chief Justice Yahya Afridi, senior-most judge Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Muneeb Akhtar, Leader of the Opposition Umar Ayub Khan, and Shibli Faraz opposed the formation of a constitution bench and making Justice Aminuddin Khan the head of the bench.
Justice Aminuddin Khan, Federal Law Minister Nazir Tarar, Attorney General Usman Mansoor Awan, Bar Council representatives Akhtar Hussain, Sheikh Aftab Ahmed, Farooq H Naik, and Roshan Khurshid Bharucha gave their opinion in favor of the seven-member bench and Justice Aminuddin. . Thus, the first constitutional bench of the Supreme Court was formed by majority opinion.
Thus, the three most senior judges of the Supreme Court, including the Chief Justice of Pakistan, were seen standing on one side and the opposition members also supported their stand.
Thus, only one judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Justice Aminuddin Khan, appointed himself as the head of the constitution bench by voting for himself.
The term of the seven-member bench will be two months
In the context of the 26th constitutional amendment, the Judicial Commission of Pakistan will continue to constitute constitutional benches from time to time. For this reason, it has been clarified in the declaration that the tenure of the seven-member constitution bench will be two months. After two months, the Judicial Commission will again constitute a new bench.
According to the statement, the Chairman of the Commission Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Yahya Afridi put the views of the judges of the Constitution Bench before the Judicial Commission. The rest of the members also expressed their opinion in this regard.
The Chief Justice suggested the tenure of the constitution bench, after which it was decided that the tenure of the seven-member bench would be for two months.
What changes will happen after constitution bench?
After the formation of the Constitution Bench, there will be many more changes in the Supreme Court which were subject to this decision.
As a result of the amendment to the Practice and Procedure Act passed in Parliament on Monday, the Practice and Procedure Committee will be reconstituted and Justice Aminuddin Khan will be appointed as the third ex-officio member of this committee.
Thus, Justice Muneeb Akhtar will once again be out of the Practice and Procedure Committee.
Since Justice Aminuddin Khan is already a member of the Judicial Commission on the basis of seniority and being the head of the Constitution Bench, he can be declared a member of the Judicial Commission, but a member of the Commission cannot exercise the right of two votes simultaneously.
Therefore, under the Constitution, the next senior judge of the Supreme Court i.e. Justice Jamal Mandukhel will be the thirteenth member of the Judicial Commission.
Similarly, another committee comprising Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Jamal Mandukhel and Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar will be formed to fix the cases before the constitutional benches, which will decide to fix the cases before the constitutional benches.
What will be the responsibilities of the Constitution Bench?
Under the 26th Constitutional Amendment and Practice and Procedure Act Amendment Bill passed by Parliament, the Constitution Bench will hear all constitutional matters, including any matter where interpretation of the Constitution is required.
It will also hear and decide all applications, cases, appeals and appeals relating to all matters relating to human rights and all matters covered by Article 3/184 of the Constitution.
The Constitution Bench will not be able to give any decision or opinion on any matter apart from the appeal made in the petition.
The Registrar will be obliged to provide administrative support to the Supreme Court Constitution Benches. Keeping in view the availability of judges, nominations to all benches will be ensured from all provinces.
An appeal against the decision of any Constitution Bench can be filed in a larger Constitution Bench within 30 days. All existing appeals under Article 3/184 of the Constitution shall also be transferred to the Constitution Benches.
Under the amendment, the petition filed first in the Supreme Court will be heard first. The application filed later will be heard later.
