Larger bench to hear Gilani’s petition tomorrow

KHUDAYAR MOHLA

ISLAMABAD: An eight-member special bench of the Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry will take up on Monday (tomorrow) former prime minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani’s review petition that he filed against his conviction for contempt of court after he failed to write a letter to Swiss authorities to reopen graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.

This special Bench would be headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and consist of Justice Jawwad S Khawaja, Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain, Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, Justice Amir Hani Muslim, Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed, Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rahman.

A seven-judge bench of the apex court sentenced Gilani in April last year. On March 13, 2013, Gilani appeared before the Supreme Court in person instead of engaging the services of Aitzaz Ahsan, who was his lawyer in the contempt case and subsequent disqualification.

While hearing the matter, a three-member bench of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had hinted at constituting a larger bench to hear Gilani’s case after he re-filed the review petition against his conviction.

Meanwhile, six benches excluding the special bench of the Supreme Court have been formed to hear important cases during the week commencing from April 1.

Bench I of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Amir Hani Muslim and Justice Sheikh Zamat Saeed is formed after the hearing of the special bench.

Bench II comprises Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa and Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry. Bench III is consists of Justice Nasirul Mulk, Justice Jalal Osmany and Justice Gulzar Ahmed. Bench IV would comprise Justice Jawwad S Khawaja and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain.

Bench V of the Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, Justice Mian Saqib Nisar and Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rehman will hear various important cases.

Bench VI of the Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan and Justice Muhammad Athar Saeed will hear services laws matter, recovery suits other than banking, rent laws and family laws matters.