Senior Supreme Court Judges Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Ayesha Malik and Justice Aqeel Abbasi wrote a letter to Chief Justice Yahya Afridi and Head of Constitutional Bench Justice Aminuddin on the issue of non-scheduling of Benches Powers case.
The letter states that the cases were scheduled before the bench of Justice Mansoor, Justice Ayesha, Justice Irfan Saadat on January 13, the question regarding the powers of the benches was raised before the bench on which the decision was issued, the bench was reconstituted on January 16.
According to the letter, Justice Aqeel Abbasi had issued the decision as Chief Justice of Sindh High Court and had not been able to hear the relevant cases, he issued instructions to the office to schedule the case before the bench on January 20 at 1 pm, we were informed that the cases were not scheduled.
The letter told us that the matter was taken before the Practice and Procedure Committee on January 17, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah said that a judicial order has been passed, there is no need to attend the committee, however, it was surprising that despite the judicial order, the cases were not scheduled before the relevant bench on January 20.
The letter states that the Practice and Procedure Committee formed a 3-member bench which was already formed, the new bench could not hear the case on January 16, the court issued instructions to the bench formed by the committee to hear the case on January 20.
The letter states that the committee should not have seen the matter, the office should have scheduled the case, even if the committee had seen the matter, it would have formed the same bench that was already formed and scheduled the case on January 20, if the committee had formed a new bench, it would have included a new member in place of Justice Aqeel Abbasi.
According to the letter, the committee could not go against the judicial order and was bound to fix the case on January 20, we are not aware of the decision of the committee, the cause list for the entire week was also changed and the cases were removed from the bench without issuing an order.
The letter states that the failure of the office and the integrity of the institution were damaged due to non-compliance with the court order, the law laid down by the court was violated, the jurisdiction of the bench to take notice cannot be taken away, serious concerns also arise about the independence of the benches.
The letter states that non-compliance with the court order is an insult to the court, destroys public confidence in the judiciary, the order issued on January 16 should be complied with and the office should be directed to dispose of the case.
