ISLAMABAD: Justice Amin-Ud-Din Khan on Thursday recused himself from a five-member Supreme Court bench hearing the elections’ delay case after a Supreme Court order halted proceedings under Article 184(3).

The Supreme Court was set to resume the hearing of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) plea against the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to defer the elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at 11:30 am on Thursday but the hearing was delayed following Justice Amin-Ud-Din’s recusal.

A Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Qazi Faez Isa on Wednesday ordered the postponement of cases being heard under Article 184(3) of the Constitution till the amendments made in the Supreme Court Rules 1980 regarding the discretionary powers of the chief justice to form benches.

Justice Amin-Ud-Din concurred with Justice Isa while Justice Shahid Waheed dissented with the majority order of 2-1 in a suo moto case regarding the grant of 20 marks to Hafiz-e-Quran students while seeking admission to MBBS/BDS Degree under Regulation 9(9) of the MBBS and BDS (Admissions, House Job and Internship) Regulations, 2018.

At the outset of Thursday’s hearing, when the five-member bench came to the courtroom, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial said Justice Amin-Ud-Din wanted to say something.

“I recuse myself from the instant case in light of Supreme Court order issued by Justice Qazi Faez Isa,” Justice Amin-Ud-Din stated.

The original bench comprised Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Amin-Ud-Din, and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail.

As per the Supreme Court, the bench will resume hearing of the case at 11:30am from tomorrow (Friday) without Justice Amin-Ud-Din Khan.