2023 PLD 387 SUPREME-COURT

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VS O. XI & O. XXV---Constitution of Pakistan, Art. 184(3)---Constitution of a Special three-member Bench to hear a suo motu case---Objection to Constitution of Bench by two Judges---Propriety---Objection to the constitution of the present Bench could not be brought under consideration for two reasons; one, a Bench, special or regular, is constituted by an administrative order of the Chief Justice, and as such, the present Bench in conformity with the principle settled in Suo Motu Case No.4 of 2021 reported as (PLD 2022 SC 306), has been lawfully constituted to hear the present case---Said judgment is of a Five-Member Bench and thus, takes precedence over all precedents of the Supreme Court regarding the power of the Chief Justice to constitute any kind of Benches---None of the Judges of the present Bench can object to the constitution of the Bench, and if they do so, their status immediately becomes that of the complainant, and consequently, it would not be appropriate for them to hear this case and pass any kind of order thereon---Such reasoning has the backing of the basic code of judicial ethics, to wit, no man can be a Judge in their own cause---Said principle confines not merely to the cause where the Judge is an actual party to a case, but also applies to a case in which he has an interest---Additionally, judicial propriety requires that if any Judge of the Bench has any objection, the proper course for him is either to recuse himself from the Bench or to refer the matter to the Chief Justice with the concurrence of other Judges of the Bench, so that the case is assigned to some other Bench---Two, the administrative order of the Chief Justice regarding the constitution of the Bench becomes fait accompli when a Judge in compliance thereof starts hearing the case---Hence, any Member of the present Bench, after having accepted the administrative order of the Chief Justice, is estopped to question the constitution of the Bench on the well-known doctrine of estoppel.

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