A Larger Bench?

To say that the Supreme Court's verdict on the Chief Minister election in the Punjab Assembly has led to wide-ranging legal discourse would be an understatement. A definitive legal question that this whole fiasco has reignited is that of the circumstances in which a full bench of the Supreme Court may be constituted, due to the government's plea for a larger bench to hear their case.

From a legal standpoint, there is no legislation that necessitates a larger bench to be constituted about matters of public importance, and the discretion as to when that may happen rests entirely with the Chief Justice of Pakistan. The Supreme Court Rules state that every cause, appeal or matter shall be heard and disposed of by a bench consisting of not less than three judges to be nominated by the Chief Justice. However, apart from legislation, the question of a larger bench has arisen repeatedly in previous years, as more and more political cases have gone to the courts regarding inviolable rights enshrined in Article 9 of the Constitution of justice for all.

It is true that perhaps a larger bench may have assuaged the government's implied stance that the decision was biased against them; after all, justice...

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