Justice Isa questions provisions of 'special bench' constitution.

ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court (SC) senior puisne judge Justice Qazi Faez Isa on Wednesday raised a question on the constitution of special benches by the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP).

Earlier, CJP Umar Ata Bandial had formed a three-judge special bench, led by Justice Isa, to hear a suo motu case related to examining the grant of 20 additional marks to a Hafiz-e-Quran student while admitting them for an MBBS/BDS degree. Other members of the bench are Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Shahid Waheed.

The suo motu was numbered last year and the bench was to see if it fell in line with the MBBS and BDS (Admission, House Job and Internship) Regulations 2018.

It may be noted also that this was the first time the CJP had included Justice Isa in a special bench hearing a suo motu case.

Further, it was reported in January last year that a bench led by Justice Isa, while hearing a matter, had questioned the policy of granting additional marks to Hafiz-e-Quran students. This had led senior lawyers to question if a judge, who has already disclosed his opinion on a certain matter, should hear a suo motu case on the same issue. During the proceedings on Wednesday, Justice Isa questioned whether SC Rules allow the constitution of special benches in the first place.

"Where is the concept of special bench," he asked noting that "they (the three) judges were sitting in different benches in the morning". He said the constitution of special benches would create "misgivings"...