ISLAMABAD: The Sunni Ittehad Council has filed a petition in the Supreme Court, requesting the release of the complete and duly signed court order regarding the June 27 verdict on the reserved seats case.
According to the petition, the detailed written judgement of the 12-member bench has not yet been made publicly available or uploaded on the official website of the Supreme Court. The party argues that the issued order is incomplete, as it does not carry the signatures of Justice Ayesha Malik and Justice Aqeel Abbasi.
The petitioner has demanded that the Supreme Court issue a fully signed copy of the judgement, endorsed by all 12 judges who were part of the bench that heard the case.
Senior lawyer and PTI leader Salman Akram Raja has also addressed the issue in a formal letter sent to the registrar of the Supreme Court. In his communication, Raja pointed out the inconsistencies in the documentation of the verdict. He noted that the decision announced on June 27 included a majority opinion signed by seven judges, a dissenting note from two judges, and a separate opinion by one. Justice Salahuddin Panhor had previously recused himself from the bench.
Raja’s letter further requested certified copies of all the individual judgements, as well as the official court order signed by all members of the bench, including Justices Ayesha Malik and Aqeel Abbasi.On June 27, the Supreme Court accepted the review petitions of the PTI and Sunni Ittehad Council in the reserved seats case and annulled its earlier decision issued on July 12.
The four-page short order came through a majority decision by a seven-member bench. With the acceptance of the review petitions, the judgement of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) in the case was upheld. The short order was signed by 10 judges. The verdict practically deprived the PTI of the reserved seats in national and provincial assemblies, which would now be divided among ruling parties, including the PPP, PML-N and others. After being allocated the additional reserved seats, the ruling government is set to enjoy a comfortable two-thirds majority in parliament.
As per an amended part of the decision, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel upheld his decision to the extent of awarding 39 seats to the PTI. Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Hassan Azhar Rizvi also partially approved the review petitions, along with Justice Mandokhel. Justice Mazhar and Justice Rizvi asked the Election Commission of Pakistan to re-examine the nomination papers to resolve the issue. Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Musarat Hilali, Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan, Justice Shahid Bilal, Justice Hashim Kakar, Justice Aamir Farooq and Justice Ali Baqir Najafi were among the majority judges
