A new bench of the Supreme Court is set to resume hearing the PTI's petition regarding delay in elections in Punjab today Friday.   A four-member bench headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Munib Akhtar, and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail will take up the case at 11:30am.

The original five-member bench of the top court hearing the case was dissolved on Thursday after Justice Aminuddin Khan rescued himself from the bench. As Thursday’s hearing was resumed, CJP Bandial said Justice Khan wanted to say something. Later, Justice Khan announced he could not be part of the bench after his yesterday’s verdict regarding suo motu cases.

He was part of the three-member bench which on Wednesday ordered suspending proceedings on ongoing suo motu notices until rules for the procedure were made. The bench, headed by Justice Qazi Faez Isa, had issued the verdict on a suo motu notice taken on awarding 20 extra marks to Hafiz-e-Quran in the MBBS/BDS admissions. The verdict had been issued with 2-1 majority as Justice Shahid Waheed wrote a dissenting note, stating the verdict was issued on matters that were not raised before the court.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-INP