Justice Mansoor Ali Shah Urges Less Reliance on Constitutional Benches

Islamabad: In a recent hearing, Supreme Court’s senior-most judge, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, expressed his views on the growing trend of referring all cases to constitutional benches. During the proceedings of a case related to overbilling by Sui Northern Gas, Justice Shah remarked, “Do not take all cases to constitutional benches; leave some cases for us.”
The case was heard by a two-member bench comprising Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Aqeel Abbasi. A lawyer representing the petitioner pointed out that the case was still under review and would be referred to a constitutional bench following the 26th amendment.
Justice Mansoor Ali Shah responded, stating that there were no constitutional or legal questions present in this case, and reiterated his request to not overload constitutional benches. With a smile, he added, “Let some cases remain with us.”
The court subsequently dismissed the overbilling case and noted that petitioners could still raise questions in the pending review case.