Former chief justice of Sindh High Court (SHC) Sarmad Jalal Osmany and Justice Amir Hani Muslim, who has been elevated to Supreme Court, will take oath of their office next week. The number of functional judges of Supreme Court will be 17 after the two judges take oath and the apex court would be in a position to take up cases of 18th Amendment and reviews petitions on National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) judgement.
According to the constitutional experts the same or the bigger bench could hear the reviews petitions as after Justice Rahmat Hussain Jaffrey's retirement on November 22, 2010, the number of apex court functional judges was reduced to 16 and after Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday's retirement as he leaves on February 17, number of SC judges will remain 15.
Due to the non-availability of the bench, the court could not hear the federation's review petition on NRO judgement and 18th Amendment cases. The Supreme Court 17-member bench on October 22, 2010, had referred back the matter of judges' appointment to the superior courts to parliament and the case was adjourned till first week of January 2011.
Similarly, a 17-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry comprising Justice Javed Iqbal, Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan, Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday, Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, Justice Tassadduq Hussain Jillani, Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk, Justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmed, Justice Chaudhry Ijaz Ahmed, Justice Muhammad Sair Ali, Justice Mahmood Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui, Justice Jawwad S Khawaja, Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain, Justice Rahmat Husain Jafferi, Justice Tariq Parvez and Justice Ghulam Rabbani, had issued judgement on National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) on December 16, 2009.
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