Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial on Thursday formed a five-member bench to take up petitions against the audio leak commission probing various audio leaks involving judges and politicians.

The larger bench including Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Muneed Akhtar, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, and Justice Shahid Waheed will hear the petitions at 11am.

Earlier, the federal government had formed a three-member inquiry commission to investigate the leaked audios allegedly involving the judiciary and former chief justices and a judge, saying the conversations had raised apprehensions over impartiality of judges.

The three-member commission is headed by Supreme Court’s Justice Qazi Faez Isa while Balochistan High Court Chief Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan and Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Aamer Farooq are its members.

PTI chief Imran Khan approached the SC against the commission. In the constitutional petition, he pleaded the apex court to declare the commission null and void. Mr Khan took the plea that no judge could be appointed as a member of the judicial commission without permission of the Chief Justice of Pakistan.

He argued that the proper forum for any probe or taking action against any judge was the Supreme Judicial Council. Imran Khan filed the petition through his counsel Babar Awan.

A day ago, the federal government handed over the alleged audio recordings to the inquiry commission for thorough examination.
The commission made significant progress in its investigation and received the audio files from the government, accompanied by their respective transcripts, duly signed by an authorised officer.

Sources familiar with the matter revealed that a total of eight audio recordings had been submitted to the commission for scrutiny. Moreover, the names, positions, and contact information of individuals involved in these recordings had also been provided.