Elections suo motu: Dissenting notes of four SC judges

ISLAMABAD: Four Supreme Court (SC) judges have written dissenting notes and raised objections over the suo motu notice taken on delay in announcement of dates for holding elections for Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) assemblies, ARY News reported on Monday.

Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail raised objections to the constitution of the bench as well as the suo motu notice taken on the date of the election.

Justice Mansoor Ali Shah

The SC judge, in his note, wrote that he has no legal justification for rescuing from hearing the cases “despite having reservations on how the original jurisdiction of this Court has been invoked suo motu in the present case”.

He also pointed out an audio leak of “one of the members of the said bench”, saying that despite the requests, there has been no institutional response to the allegations either by this court or by the constitutional forum of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC).

Justice Shah objected to the inclusion of the judge in the bench, saying that before these allegations could be probed into and put to rest, inclusion of the “said member appears inappropriate”.

He also raised objections over the non-inclusion of other senior judges of Supreme Court on the bench. “The judiciary is bound for the confidence of the people to maintain its transparency,” he wrote.

Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail

In his dissenting note, Justice Mandokhail pointed out the three audio recordings, which were leaked recently. “In one recording learned Mr Abid Zuberi was reportedly talking to Pervaiz Elahi [former Punjab CM] about the pending case of Ghulam Mehmood Dogar, which in my opinion was very serious,” he noted.

The SC judge noted that Justice Ijazul Hassan and Justice Mazahar Ali Naqvi had made it clear that elections will be held within 90 days of dissolution of assemblies. “Both judges did not pay attention on Article 10A while giving their opinion,” he claimed.

“In such circumstances, it was not appropriate to refer the matter to Chief Justice for taking suo motu notice under Article 184(3) of the Constitution. Suo motu action is not justiﬁed,” he wrote.

Justice Yahya Afridi

Meanwhile, Justice Afridi – in his dissenting note – pointed out that applications related to the date for holding elections for Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) assemblies were pending in Lahore Hugh Court (LHC) and Peshawar High Court (PHC).

The SC judge pointed out that the remarks by Supreme Court would influence the proceedings in the high courts, terming the suo motu notice ‘unjustified’.

“However, I leave it to the Chief Justice to decide my retention in the present bench hearing the said petitions,” he wrote.