A three-member full bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justice Sardar Mohammad Raza Khan, Justice Ejaz Ahmad Chaudhry and Justice Hamid Ali Mirza, set aside three objections raised by the Islamabad Registry of the Court on the Chief Justice's petition and heard the petition.
Submitting his arguments on the core constitutional issue of the petition, (Article 209) counsel for the petitioner, Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan said that the President cannot file a reference against the Chief Justice under this article for, this Article clearly states that the Chief Justice of Pakistan would head the Supreme Judicial Council.
He said that the Supreme Court has already held in Al-Jehad Trust case 1996 that the acting Chief Justice cannot head the SJC. He further submitted that the Chief Justice is not above law; but he could be tried by the Full Court (all judges of the Supreme Court) and not by the five-member SJC.
He pointed out that the case of Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah was decided by a full court headed by Justice Saeeeduzzaman Siddiqui in 1998 and the senior most judge, Justice Ajmal Mian did not sit on the Bench saying "he would be a direct beneficiary in Justice Sajjad Ali Shah was removed as CJ.
He argued that this petition should be heard by a larger bench of the court, to which Justice Sardar Mohammad Raza Khan observed "we will consider this request when that stage comes."
In his petition, Justice Iftikhar has challenged the Reference against him dated 09.03.2007, the Notification dated 09.03.2007, whereby he was suspended. Notifications of Acting Chief Justices and Notification dated 15.03.2007 whereby he was sent on forced leave as well as the Constitution and competence of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) and the mode and manner of the proceedings before it. The President of Pakistan as the Referring Authority and the SJC have been named as respondents.