Law: Supreme Court Rules, 1980

Section: O.XI

Law: Constitution of Pakistan, 1973

Section: 184(3)

Supreme Court Rules, 1980--- ----0. XI---Constitution of Pakistan, Art. 184(3)---Human rights case Constitution/re-constitution of Bench---Administrative powers of the Chief Justice---Scope---Order XI of Supreme Court Rules, 1980 provided for administrative powers of the Chief Justice to constitute benches---Once a bench was constituted, cause list was issued and the bench was assembled for hearing cases, the matter regarding constitution of the bench went outside the pale of administrative powers of the Chief Justice and rested on the judicial side, with the bench---Any member of the bench may, however, recuse to hear a case for personal reasons or may not be available to sit on the bench due to prior commitments or due to illness---Bench may also be reconstituted if it was against the Rules and required a three-member bench instead of two; in such eventualities the bench passed an order to place the matter before the Chief Justice to nominate a new bench---In the absence of a recusal by a member of the Bench, any amount of disagreement amongst the members of the Bench, on an issue before them, could not form a valid ground for reconstitution of the Bench (by the Chief Justice)---Any reconstitution of the Bench on such ground would impinge on theconstitutional value of independence of judiciary---Reconstitution of a bench while hearing a case, in the absence of any recusal from any member on the bench or due to any other aforementioned reason, would amount to stifling the independent view of the judge---Any effort to muffle disagreement or to silence dissent or to dampen an alternative viewpoint of a member on the bench, would shake the foundations of a free and impartial justice system, thereby eroding the public confidence on which the entire edifice of judicature stood---Reconstitution of the Bench by the Chief Justice, in the present case, was unwarranted and unprecedented and undermined the integrity of the system, therefore, the same was held to be void and non-est. Ahron Barak, The Judge in a Democracy, Princeton University Press, p.109-110 ref. THIS ORDER PASSED BY: SYED MANSOOR ALI SHAH, J.--- I have seen the order passed by my learned brother Qazi…

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