Islamabad: Federal Minister for Law and Justice Azam Nazeer Tarar stated that he thought the petitions had been rejected by a 4-3 majority in his response to the Supreme Court’s decision in its election date suo motu case.
The federal minister made this statement while addressing the media about the Supreme Court’s decision ordering the president and the relevant governor to set appropriate dates for the elections in the provinces of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, respectively. Elections must be held within 90 days, according to a decision made by a five-member Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial.
The suo motu proceedings, however, do not constitute a fit case to exercise the extraordinary original jurisdiction of this court under Article 184(3) of the Constitution and are therefore not maintainable as the same constitutional and legal issues seeking the same relief are currently pending and being considered by the respective provincial high courts in Lahore and Peshawar, respectively, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Mandokhail jointly dissented with the majority decision. “The Election Commission is hereby directed to use its best efforts to promptly propose to the President a date that complies with the foregoing deadline, keeping in mind Sections 57 and 58 of the 2017 Act.
Azam Nazeer Tarar, the law minister, said in a statement to the media today that he could not comment on the verdict because he had not received a copy and had not discussed it with the federal cabinet. The minister argued that because this matter was already pending before the high courts in Punjab and KP, the suo motu notice taken under Article 184(3) was ineligible. “Today, two additional judges ruled that the petitions could not be maintained, so in my opinion, the result is 4-3.”
“Today, two more judges said that the petitions were not maintainable, so in my opinion, it’s a 4-3 verdict.”
He referred to the SC verdict in the Panama case against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif when a split verdict of a five-member bench was later merged as a 5-0 verdict.
This issue, Tarar said, should now be adjudicated in respective high courts.
