ISLAMABAD: A 13-member full bench of the Supreme Court has been created to hear the Peshawar High Court (PHC) plea by the Sunni Union Council (SIK) rejecting party reservation for women and minorities, sources told Geo News on Friday.
According to sources, the Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Faez Isa will preside over the bench including all judges except Justice Musarrat Hilali. Judge Hilali will not be on the bench due to a heart condition.
A hearing is set for June 3.
Earlier this month, a three-judge bench headed by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, including Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Athar Minallah, upheld the PHC order and referred the matter to a committee of judges to form a larger bench. the problem requires constitutional interpretation.
In his written order, the court said that the issue of reserved seat allocation in the National and Provincial Assembly pertains to the constitutional concept of parliamentary democracy, where the vote of the electorate is actually reflected in the composition of the assembly.
“The mandate of democracy requires that the allocation of reserved seats increases the representation of voters in the assembly and proposes the principle of justice and transparency in the electoral process. “It is important to prioritize the integrity of the election so that Parliament remains a true expression of the will of the people,” the appeal was granted.
The matter ended after the Supreme Court rejected PHC’s plea for reserved seats.
In April, SIK chief Sahibzada Hamid Raza and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly speaker approached the apex court against the PHC order, praying that the party be given 67 women and 11 minority seats. praying that the High Court should set aside its decision.
After the general election on February 8, the Election Commission of Pakistan decided not to allocate seats for women and minorities because they did not submit a list of candidates for these seats.
This decision is also supported by PHC.
However, the PHC decision was overturned when the Supreme Court decided.
According to the SC order, the ECP has suspended the notification of the victory of 77 members of Parliament who were elected on the seats that were rejected from the SIK.
The Hamid Raza-led SIK joined PTI-backed candidates as they were stripped of the ‘bat’, the electoral symbol of their party which won the February 8 election.
However, PTI’s attempt to claim reserved seats failed in March when the commission ruled that SIK could not claim quota for reserved seats due to “irreparable legal defects and violation of mandatory rules to submit a party list for reservation”. chair”.
The council not only rejected the land provided but distributed it to other parties.
