ISLAMABAD: A six-member larger bench of the Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan on Tuesday closed the suo-moto case pertaining to grant of additional 20 marks to Hafiq-e-Quran while admission in MBBS/BDS degree as it reviewed the verdict of Justice Qazi Faez Isa-led three-member bench over suo-moto powers of the chief justice.
Earlier, the ‘removed’ SC Registrar, Ishrat Ali issued a roster dated April 4. The government had, on Monday, recalled the services of the Supreme Court registrar, following a demand put forward by the second senior-most judge of the apex court. In a brief letter written in response to a March 31 circular that disregarded the decision of a Justice Qazi Faez Isa-led bench, the senior puisne judge urged the Cabinet Division to recall Ishrat Ali to “prevent him from further damaging the reputation and integrity of the Supreme Court”.
The judge also sought disciplinary proceedings against Mr Ali for apparently violating the Constitution and the order of the Supreme Court of March 29. The two-page letter, addressed to the registrar, was also copied to the cabinet secretary through the Attorney General for Pakistan and Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial.
SC bench
The six-member larger bench comprising Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Ali Naqvi, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazahir, Justice Ayesha A. Malik and Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi continued the proceedings for less than five minutes before it ordered to close the case. The bench will issue a detailed verdict in this regard later.
Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial had earlier rejected the verdict by Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Aminuddin Khan who were part of the three-member bench, over suo-moto jurisdiction. Justice Shahid Waheed, had, however, disagreed with the verdict and presented a dissenting note on the subject. The six-member bench was headed by Justice Ijazul Ahsan and the hearing started at 2pm.
