Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry formed a 17-member larger bench of the Supreme Court on Thursday to hear a review petition on November 21 against the apex court verdict declaring the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) unconstitutional. The bench will be headed by the chief justice. The review petition against the NRO verdict had come up for hearing before the court on April 19, 2011 and was adjourned. Thereafter, the case could not be fixed as the requisite strength of 17 members for the bench was not available.
Notices have also been issued to all concerned. Just after declaring the NRO unconstitutional on December 16, 2009, the court had ordered revival of all the cases that were disposed of under the NRO.
The NRO, promulgated by former president Pervez Musharraf, granted amnesty to politicians, political workers and bureaucrats who were accused of corruption, embezzlements, money laundering, murder, and terrorism between January 1, 1986 to October 12, 1999, the time between two states of martial law.