Pak CJ avoids taking on Musharraf
Apparently against the backdrop of his earlier brush with president Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s chief justice Iftikhar M Chaudhry has withdrawn from a bench hearing a petition against the general holding dual office.
ISLAMABAD: Apparently against the backdrop of his earlier brush with president Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s chief justice Iftikhar M Chaudhry has withdrawn from a bench hearing a petition against the general holding dual office. The chief justice on Thursday excluded himself from the recently constituted nine-member bench hearing the petition by Jamaat-e-Islami against Mr Musharraf holding dual office, saying “not before me”, and named justice Rana Bhagwandas as the head of the panel, The News daily reported here on Friday. The next date of hearing of the petition has been fixed on September 17. “Although there's no explanation given by the Supreme Court to this effect, it is believed that the chief justice has kept himself out of the new larger bench so that no question is raised of his 'personal bias' against the president," who also holds the post of the army chief, the daily said.
"Since the outcome of this petition would be directly affecting President Musharraf so the chief justice judiciously excluded himself and re-constituted a nine-member larger bench to hear the case," it said.
According to legal experts, 'not before me' is a situation where a judge decides not to hear a particular case, where he feels that he should not hear the same because of his association or any bias against any party involved.
Meanwhile, a senior unnamed government official expressed his satisfaction over the reconstituted nine-member bench and admitted that it is possibly "the most balanced one", according to the report.
Download
The Economic Times Business News App for the Latest News in Business, Sensex, Stock Market Updates & More.
The Economic Times Business News App for the Latest News in Business, Sensex, Stock Market Updates & More.
Download
The Economic Times News App for Quarterly Results, Latest News in ITR, Business, Share Market, Live Sensex News & More.
The Economic Times News App for Quarterly Results, Latest News in ITR, Business, Share Market, Live Sensex News & More.
ADVERTISEMENT
