The Supreme Court has suspended a decision of the Peshawar High Court and the Election Commission of Pakistan to distribute the reserved seats in all legislatures among other parties instead of allotting them to the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC).
A three-judge bench of the court heard the case related to the reserved seats of the Sunni Ittehad Council in the National as well as all provincial assemblies. The bench was headed by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and comprises Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Athar Minallah.Earlier, the court rejected an objection from the federal government to the three-member bench hearing the case. According to details, the objections were raised over the bench by the women lawmakers nominated on the reserved seats as well as the federal government. They adopted the stance that a five-member bench could hear the case under the Practice and Procedure Act.Additional Attorney General Aamir Rehman told the court that only a larger bench can hear the appeals, but the court rejected the objection. Justice Shah remarked that if the appeals are declared admissible, any bench can hear them, adding that even a two-member bench can hear them at this stage.It should be noted that the Sunni Ittehad Council as well as the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly speaker had filed appeals against the decision of the Peshawar High Court on the issue of reserved seats. The Election Commission of Pakistan had decided not to allocate reserved seats to the Sunni Ittehad Council, which was upheld by the Peshawar High Court.On March 14, the Peshawar High Court had rejected the applications of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) seeking reserved seats and against their division among other political parties.