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A senior Pakistani minister on Friday demanded the resignation of Supreme Court Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial after another judge of the Supreme Court issued a dissenting note on the suo motu notice regarding holding elections in Punjab province, further deepening the faultlines between the judiciary and the government.
Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb’s demand came amid growing calls from the ruling PML-N party for the top judge to step down.
A complaint has also been filed against the CJP before the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) for misconduct, seeking a probe into the constitution of a bench for suo motu proceedings on Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa elections.
PML-N chief organiser Maryam Nawaz Sharif echoed the demand that CJP Bandial should resign because “his tilt towards” the PTI was glaring’.
In a couple of tweets, Maryam alleged that the top judge had flagrantly violated the law and Constitution to favour former prime minister Imran Khan and his PTI party.
“This blatant abuse of authority has led to an unprecedented revolt-like situation in the [Supreme Court]. Judges of impeccable repute have raised serious questions on CJP’s conduct & bias,” she wrote, claiming that no chief justice had ever been accused of such misconduct.
Her father, PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif, also tweeted on the issue, saying that courts were meant to rescue nations from crises, not push them further into the quagmire.
Addressing the media in Islamabad, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb “Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial to resign after his position has become controversial”.
On Friday, Justice Athar Minallah, in his dissenting note, maintained that the Supreme Court's suo motu notice was dismissed by a majority 4-3 ruling.
Aurangzeb said Justice Minallah's decision raised questions about the judicial process.
"Justice Minallah has made a major decision today. Following this decision, the majority of judges have reached a conclusion. The decision made by him today raises questions about the judicial process," the information minister said.
A three-member bench of the apex court led by Chief Justice Bandial on Tuesday fixed May 14 as the new date for elections to the Punjab Assembly, as it quashed the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) decision to extend the polls date from April 10 to October 8.
The dissenting note of the judge provided an opportunity for the government to put more pressure on the apex court to accept its demand to set up a full court to decide the election date in Punjab province.
The verdict was criticised by the coalition government, which refused to accept it.
"When there was no petition, questions arise as to why the bench was formed and why a decision was made," she said.
Aurangzeb maintained that political parties were not running away from elections but the issue was not limited to elections but had become a matter of "bench fixing”. The minister added that the illegal use of powers and arbitrary interpretation of the Constitution cannot be accepted.
On Thursday, the National Assembly or the lower house of parliament passed a resolution to reject the decision of the apex court.
The resolution came after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during a cabinet meeting on Wednesday described the court decision as a "mockery of the Constitution and law” and added that it could not be implemented.
His idea was supported by the National Assembly, showing the bitter divide over the date of election in Punjab where the assembly was dissolved on January 13 and the polls should be held within 90 days.
The federal government asserts that it has powers to delay the polls and hold it with the general elections in the country after August.
However, former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has been pushing for early polls and demanding that instead of delaying the Punjab elections, the National Assembly should be dissolved and general elections called in the country.
Separately, an application was filed by lawyer Raja Sibtain Khan in the Supreme Judicial Council, the body having powers to remove a judge of higher judiciary, for the removal of Chief Justice Bandial.
The complainant claims that the Chief Justice “devised groupings within the vagaries of the Supreme Court of Pakistan” and was guilty of misconduct.
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