SC forms new larger bench for reserved seats case

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan has constituted a new 11-member bench to hear the reserved seats case, ARY News reported.

According to reports, Justice Ayesha Malik and Justice Aqeel Abbasi have not been included in the newly formed bench. Both judges had earlier dismissed the review petitions in the same case, which is believed to be the reason behind their exclusion.

Justice Aminuddin Khan has been appointed as the head of the newly formed larger bench.

Previously, a three-member bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, and Justice Shahid Bilal had issued a ruling on the scope of review.

The decision stated that a review could only be sought under Article 188 of the Constitution and the relevant court rules, and must highlight an obvious error in the original judgment.

The judgment emphasised that dissatisfaction by one party alone does not constitute grounds for review. It further clarified that a party cannot reintroduce a point that was already rejected, nor can a review be based on the argument that an alternative view could have been adopted in the original decision.

The court also highlighted the overwhelming burden of pending cases in Pakistan, with over 2.2 million cases awaiting resolution nationwide and more than 56,000 pending in the Supreme Court alone.

A significant portion of these are review petitions. The ruling strongly discouraged the filing of baseless or frivolous review applications, noting their detrimental impact on the judicial backlog.