ISLAMABAD, SEP 12 (DNA) — Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Umar Ata Bandial said on Monday that it was after consultations with his fellow judges that he had taken suo moto notice of former National Assembly deputy speaker Qasim Suri’s ruling on voting on the no-trust motion against ex-prime minister Imran Khan.
Addressing a full-court reference held at the start of the new judicial year in Islamabad, he said that it was after the hearing for five days that the Supreme Court of Pakistan declared the ruling unconstitutional.
“And in the case of Punjab Assembly (PA) deputy speaker Daust Mazari’s ruling, the apex court pronounced the verdict in three days,” he said, adding, “The court came under a lot of criticism and faced a strong reaction from political parties when it declared the PA deputy speaker’s ruling null and void.
But we showed patience and did not take action against the critics.” The judges, he added, even sacrificed their vacations and decided pending cases on time.
The CJP went on to add the day he took office, he was confronted with the challenges of the provision of immediate justice, deciding pending cases and the frequent use of the power of suo moto notice by the SC. “I am glad that the number of pending cases have dropped from 54,134 to 50265,” Justice Bandial said gleefully.
Only between June and September, 2022, he informed, 6458 cases were settled. He told the audience that the SC planned to bring down the number of pending cases to 45, 000 in the next six months.
The CJP said that the apex court needed assistance of the Bar in the appointment of judges. “Due to political developments taking place since March 2022, more and more petitions were filed in the SC,” he said. He said that he and his fellow judges were aware of the financial problems and the devastation caused by floods in the country.
Additional Attorney-General of Pakistan Aamir Rehman, who represented the Attorney-General of Pakistan Ashtar Ausaf Ali at the function, also addressed the event besides Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) Vice Chairman Hafeez Chaudhry and Supreme Court Bar Association President Ahsan Bhoon. =DNA
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