SIBI: A nine-member bench will be formed if an appeal is filed against the Supreme Court’s judgment in the prime minister contempt case, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry said on Tuesday.
Addressing the Sibi Bar Association, the chief justice said that if an appeal is filed, it will be heard by a bench consisting of nine judges. But, he added, that three judges have refused to hear the appeal due to certain reasons.
One additional judge and two ad-hoc judges will be called to complete the nine-member bench, the chief justice added.
According to sources, Justice Ghulam Rabbani and Justice MA Shahid Siddiqui will be the ad-hoc judges and Justice Umar Ata Bandyal will be the additional Supreme Court judge on the bench.
A judicial commission meeting has also been summoned on May 7.
The Supreme Court of Pakistan convicted Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani of contempt of court for not writing a letter to Swiss authorities to reopen graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari as ordered in the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) implementation case.
The government has said that it will wait for the apex court to pass a detailed verdict before filing an appeal.
COMMENTS (15)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
Supreme Court has become Supreme League
You have got to be kidding me there are over a hundred former retired judges who could have been appointed but our PCO Chief Justice was able to find only three Punjabi judges; two former LHC judges and one judge of Punjabi origin from Sindh High Court aur adliya azaad hai!
This is a great move Honourabl by CJ Justice Chaudhary. You should hand pick judges so that they are loyal to you and give a guilty verdict for Gilani. You are the beacon of justice. Make sure that justice is meted out to Gilani. His appeal should be rejected before it is filed. You should not listen to those who say that justice should be transparent. You and your colleagues don't like PPP, and that is a genuine reason to reject the appeal. You are sitting on Justice Anwar's chair and should follow his footsteps.
While BB and Taseer murder cases have not seen a single day in SC, they are too busy in anticipating the next move of their "political rivals" the elected govt. The Memo case and contempt by PM are tried in SC, so there is hardly any time to appeal and no possibility of appeals to a higher court. However, in BB's and Taseer's murder cases the higher courts are not interested. The full SC and three HC CJ are busy in one memo case and no time for old murder cases!
@Imran: Reminds me the story of Ali Baba and 40 thieves! It is a shame that the good judges are screened out of the bench and like minded remain. Four legs of a table can be the same but the thinking of 17 judge bench cannot be identical in any way. It they continue to speak the same language then they would be regarded as dummies.
Thanks and regards, Mirza
Why detailed verdict is pending? Why comment when no detail verdict, no resulting appeal from aggrieved and CJ is in haste? Are they looking for result of media and politicians’ compaign for which they have given ample time? Why adhoc judges when CJ himself do not like it and finding provision form constitution while ignoring presidential immunity??? Is not it surprising, three of judges from collation are not willing to hear an appeal which is not yet filed? Geo azad adlia, let your favorite politicians, lawyers and media anchors to run a parallel trail of people on electronic and print media in so called political talks and columns and you write decision as per their liking. Salute to impartial and independent judiciary
@Mirza: "However, the current PCO SC has a disturbing trend of all the judges being on the same page like robots."
This is a natural outcome when one judge was allowed to handpick other judges. Now he has collected all the like minded ones. What else do you expect?
and PBC on sunday stated that they will oppose any adhoc appointment, and it was done in the past as well, when they refused to accept Ramday as adhoc judge for one more year then his adhoc appointment. Punjab Bacr Council also vows not to be part of any long march. things have changed enormously since 2007, and I dont think it is wise for CJ to believe that lawyers would come out again for him.
Supreme out is now a political party. how is CJ going to get additional Judge / ad hoc judge ?? this will be rejected by govt and it may take years to constitute a full judge
The good days of PM (convicted) Gilani has gone.
The bench will hear the appeal but I don't think that there is any more room left for concession to be given by the SC to Mr. Gilani.
Hence it is very likely that Gilani's appeal would be rejected by all the nine members of the SC bench (i.e. 9-0).
Gillani & his bunch of inadequates will not accept the verdict, even if given by 17 member bench. Naik does not agree,but one sticks to his words;Gillani & his mentor are too contumacious,hence,confrontation.
This statement is very unusual as per judicial norms. Appeal is not filed yet so how can CJ announce the composition of the Appellate Bench purely based on asumptions. By the refusal of three judges It seems that judges have already discussed about the the Appellate Bench.
There is no concept of additional judge in the constituition and appointment of adhoc judges is violative of SC judgement in Aljihad trust case.
Appointment of judges is done by a commission not CJ. So how can the names of new judges are disclosed before the commission decision?
Many cases in the US SC are decided 5:4 or 6:3. Few cases are decided unanimously as the cases and appeals in the SC are not black and white. ZAB's case was decided by 4:3 in Pakistani SC. However, the current PCO SC has a disturbing trend of all the judges being on the same page like rotots. There is seldom a difference of opinion and show of freedom among the judges. The judges love to give not so clear decisions and continue with the charade.
Justice sb give the detailed order stop wasting public money for dragging this case and stop this Mazaak with nation