ISLAMABAD: A five-member bench headed by Chief Justice Ata Umar Bandial has resumed the hearing on different petitions filed against the constitution of the high-powered judicial commission tasked to inquire into the various audio leaks of members of the judiciary.
The SC bench — which also comprises Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, and Justice Shahid Waheed — has taken up four separate petitions filed by Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Abid Shahid Zuberi, SCBA Secretary Muqtedir Akhtar Shabbir, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan and Advocate Riaz Hanif Rahi.
All petitions requested the apex court to declare the commission’s formation illegal.
Ahead of the hearing today, Zuberi, submitted to the bench a number of orders of different high courts, requesting that these documents be considered for “proper adjudication” of the present case.
These orders included previous rulings from the apex court itself, the Islamabad High Court, and the Lahore High Court.
In the short previous hearing on May 31, the federal government had asked CJP Bandial, Justice Ahsan, and Justice Akhtar to recuse themselves from the bench, adding that the bench hearing the case be reconstituted.
Moreover, the Justice Isa-led commission, too, raised objections over the five-member bench hearing the petitions and submitted that it would not be appropriate for the bench to hear the petitions.
The commission submitted that the judicial panel had no interest in the matter other than undertaking the assignment given to it and doing so strictly in accordance with the constitution and the law.
