13 September, 2017
The larger bench will be headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa and comprise Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, Justice Gulzar Ahmad, Justice Azmat Saeed and Justice Ejaz ul Ahsan.
A three-member bench headed by Justice Ijaz Afzal and comprising Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed and Justice Ijazul Ahsan will hear the review petitions of the Sharifs against the July 28 verdict in the Panama Papers case.
The children of the former premier reminded the court that they had filed two separate review petitions - one against the decision of the five-member Panama case bench and the other against the decision of the three-member implementation bench, thus the application against the decision of the five-member bench should be heard first.
Accepting this request, the bench recommended that the Chief Justice should form a larger bench to hear the petitions on Wednesday.
The court adjourned the hearing till tomorrow.
Salman Akram Raja said that the Supreme Court should first hear review petitions against the verdict of a five-member bench.
"In terms of legal and constitutional dispensation of the State of Pakistan, a Supreme Court bench of lesser strength can not upset or pre-empt the decision of a larger bench", they contended. They are of view that legal requirements were not fulfilled while announcing the verdict.
The former premier has also filed a request before the apex court to issue a stay order on the implementation of the Supreme Court verdict. The Finance Minister Ishaq Dar's Counsel Tariq Hasan also filed the review petition on behalf of his Client against Panama decision.
It may be mentioned here that Nawaz Sharif, his children and son-in-law had filed petitions challenging the verdict.
He said decision of the five member bench would sustain even if the applicant gains relief from the three-judge bench, praying the court to set up a five judge bench.
It further said that the posting of a monitoring judge to oversee the implementation of the verdict was against the law, explaining that the accountability court can not operate independently after the appointment of an implementation judge.
The petitioners' lawyer Salman Akram Raja's argued on Tuesday that the three-member panel was not empowered to hear the review petition as the earlier judgment was passed by a larger panel. It had also ordered Pakistan's anti-corruption watchdog National Accountability Bureau to initiate investigation against Sharif, his children, son-in-law Muhammad Safdar and close aide Ishaq Dar.
"It is hereby declared that having failed to disclose his un-withdrawn receivables constituting assets from Capital FZE Jebel Ali, UAE in his nomination papers filed for the General Elections held in 2013 in terms of Section 12 (2)(f) of the Representation of the People Act, 1976 (ROPA), and having furnished a false declaration under solemn affirmation respondent No. 1 Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif is not honest in terms of Section 99 (f) of ROPA and Article 62 (1)(f) of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973 and therefore he is disqualified to be a Member of the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament)".
The accountability court registrar office returned the said two references and directed NAB to resubmit it after correcting mistakes by September 14.