SC hard-pressed to adjudicate on leaks case

CJP’s successor can reconstitute bench

ISLAMABAD: In the wake of PTI’s refusal to accept the Supreme Court’s option of forming a commission to probe the Panama leaks case, the apex court bench hearing the case would be hard-pressed to adjudicate on the issue.

The main issue confronting the five-member larger bench would be the shortage of time as CJP Anwar Zaheer Jamali is unlikely to hear cases after a full-court reference, which is being organised in his honour on December 15.



If no verdict is announced before Chief Justice Jamali’s retirement then the incoming chief justice has the power to reconstitute the bench. A senior PTI leader says that they have no issue with the court resuming the hearing of the case after winter vacations. However, they are not in favour of forming a commission.

The legal team of the Sharif family, on the other hand, might request the court to form the commission, but its emphasis would be that the proposed commission should have limited scope -- where it should only record the statement of the Qatari prince and a couple of other people.

A senior PML-N leader told The Express Tribune that the party has left the option of forming the commission at the discretion of the Supreme Court.

He says they also don’t want to prolong the Panama proceedings as their ‘media trial’ by the petitioner is severely damaging them in the public.



Former Supreme Court Bar Association president Ali Zafar believes that it is interesting to see how the apex court will regulate its future proceedings under the prevailing situation, wherein the main petitioner – the PTI -- is unwilling to give its consent regarding the formation of the commission.

He said legally the court could not give its ruling without further investigation. “On the other hand, it cannot straightaway reject the petition against the Sharif family; otherwise, it would have profound implications.”

Published in The Express Tribune, December 9^th, 2016.