SC full bench: Rana Sanaullah threatens to boycott court proceedings

Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah threatened to boycott the court proceedings if the Supreme Court (SC) rejects the petition to constitute a full bench for hearing the case related to the ruling of Punjab Assembly deputy speaker, ARY News reported on Monday.

While talking to the media outside the SC building prior to the hearing, Rana Sanaullah said that they will boycott the court proceedings if full bench is not formed. “Hamza Shahbaz will not become a party in the case and it is not a threat.”

He said that the court had ruled about the party chief’s superior powers for giving instructions to the political party. Sanaullah said that the formation of full bench will end the controversy. The interior minister said that the top court is likely to hear the review petition of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) today or tomorrow.

He said that all political parties of Pakistan are present in the alliance [Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM)] and they are requesting for the formation of a full bench. Sanaullah added that they wanted to club all petitions besides hearing the petitions of the 25 dissident lawmakers.

“The 25 lawmakers had been deseated on the instructions of a party chief. We are now requesting for a full court bench which will increase the dignity of the court.”

SC rejects govt’s petition

The Supreme Court (SC) has rejected the government’s petition for formation of a full court bench to hear the case of the Punjab chief minister’s (CM) election.

A three-member apex court bench, comprising Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar, heard the plea filed by PML-Q leader Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi challenging Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Dost Mohammad Mazari’s ruling in CM Punjab election.

Pervaiz Elahi secured 186 votes against 179 votes of PML-N’s Hamza Shehbaz. However, Mazari had dismissed PML-Q’s 10 votes after party head Chaudhry Shujaat asked them to vote in favour of incumbent chief minister Hamza Shahbaz.

During the hearing today, CJP Umar Ata Bandial said that the court needs more legal clarification on certain things to decide about the formation of full court. The CJP also said that he was unsure whether the decision on the said ruling will be made today.

Last week, the top court asked Chief Minister Punjab Hamza Shahbaz to stay “trustee” CM till Monday (July 25) and limited his powers, noting that if he appoints someone against merit, it will be considered null and void.