ISLAMABAD: The six-member Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court has started hearing the cases that have been pending for years.

The bench, established under the 26th amendment to the Constitution, heard its cases for the first time on Thursday, in a bid to clear the significant backlog and provide justice to the petitioners.

The Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan-led bench had to hear about 34 cases under the docket for November 14 and 15. Eighteen of these cases were scheduled for Thursday and the remaining 16 for Friday (today).

Headed by Justice Khan, the Constitution Bench includes Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Musarrat Hilali and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan.

Due to the unavailability of Justice Ayesha A Malik on November 14 and 15, a relevant committee had decided that a bench consisting of all available judges should be constituted to proceed with the cases on those dates.

The bench will hear different types of cases today, including a case regarding recovery of money allegedly stashed abroad after misappropriation here, a case regarding harassment of women in an office, the long-running harassment case between two celebrities – Ali Zafar and Meesha Shafi, issue of Islamabad Convention Centre’s private use, Gilgit-Baltistan courts in Pakistan and various petitions of Defense Minister Khawaja Asif relating to energy projects.

The previous day, the bench had heard 18 cases, including one challenging appointment of former Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa as Chief Justice of the Balochistan High Court (BHC) and another related to environmental hazards.

The bench heard 18 cases and initiated proceedings against four while disposing of 14, labeling some of them as frivolous. Justice Mandokhail noted that 60,000 cases are pending due to similar frivolous petitions.

Use Case for Islamabad Convention Center

The bench first heard the case regarding private use of the Islamabad Convention Centre. During the proceedings, the Constitutional Bench requested a response from the Prosecutor’s Office on the matter.

Justice Mazhar noted that a notice had also been issued to a former prime minister as part of this suo motu case. Justice Mandokhail ordered that the convention center be managed as per the policy of the institution.

The Additional Public Prosecutor requested time to collect information on outstanding charges, to which Justice Aminuddin replied: “Get the information and update the court shortly.”

The court then adjourned the hearing for a while.

This is a development story and will be updated with more information.