Speaker has discretion to reject resolution: Pak SC judge

Islamabad: A Speaker can reject a resolution as per the Assembly rules, Justice Muneeb Akhtar of the Supreme Court of Pakistan said during the hearing of the suo motu notice on the constitutional crisis triggered after Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly ruled the no-confidence resolution against Prime Minister Imran Khan as "unconstitutional", Geo News reported.

A five-member larger bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Muneeb Akhtar, Justice Aijazul Ahsan, Justice Mazhar Alam and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel, on Monday resumed hearing on the notice taken up by Bandial.

At the outset of the hearing, PPP's counsel Farooq H. Naek requested the court to form a full-court bench to hear the case.

"The court should form a full-court bench for [this] important constitutional matter," Naek said.

Responding to Naek's request, Bandial remarked that the bench would wrap up if Naek says he doesn't have confidence in anyone.

The Chief Justice inquired if Naek would like to share which of the constitutional questions need the formation of a full-court bench.

"Looking into the constitutional questions is the court's job. You tell us what is the basis of your case. The full-court bench held 66 hearings on a case for two years. As many as 12,000 cases are piled up due to full-court bench [hearings]," the top judge remarked, Geo News reported.

Bandial went on to say that one full-court bench caused a backlog of one million cases.

"The court will let you know if a full-court bench is needed over the constitutional questions in the case," Bandial said.

"Any order and action of Prime Minister Imran Khan and President Arif Alvi regarding the dissolution of the National Assembly shall be subject to the order of this court," Bandial added.