Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial will head the five-member larger bench set up by the Supreme Court to hear the presidential reference filed by the government, which sought its opinion on Article 63-A of the Constitution, related to parliamentarians being disqualified on grounds of defection.

The five-member bench will also include Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel, Justice Munib Akhtar, and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokel.

The bench will also take up the Supreme Court Bar Association's (SCBA) petition requesting the SC to direct all state functionaries to act strictly in accordance with the Constitution and the law, and ask them to restrain from acting in any manner detrimental to and unwarranted by the Constitution.

According to the supplementary cause list, the hearing for the presidential reference and the SCBA's petition would be held at 1 pm on Thursday (March 24).

The SC has issued notices to four major political parties lawyers, Islamabad inspector general of police, interior secretary, and president of the SCBA in the case pertaining to the no-confidence vote in the National Assembly against PM Imran.

On Monday, a two-member bench of the top court decided to form a larger bench to hear the presidential reference filed by the government.

Earlier, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government submitted a presidential reference in the top court. The reference was submitted by Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) Khalid Jawed Khan on behalf of President Arif Alvi, which was heard by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Munib Akhtar.

Last week, the government had decided to file a reference in SC to seek an interpretation of Article 63-A after several PTI lawmakers came out in the open saying they would vote on the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan.

This story was first published in Business Recorder on March 22, 2022.