CJP Qazi Faez Isa takes suo motu notice on letter of six Islamabad High Court judges, issues notice to Attorney General for Pakistan
ISLAMABAD, April 01 (SABAH): Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Qazi Faez Isa has taken suo motu notice on the letter of six judges of Islamabad High Court (IHC) dated 25th March 2204. The Chief Justice has constituted a seven member bench which will hear the case at 11:30 AM on Wednesday. The court has issued notice to Attorney General for Pakistan Barrister Mansoor Usman Awan.
The bench will be headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Qazi Faez Isa. Other members of the bench include Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Yahya Khan Afridi, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Musarrat Hilali and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan.
The IHC judges — Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Justice Babar Sattar, Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan, Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir, and Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz — wrote the letter to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), urging the body to convene a judicial convention over the alleged interference of intelligence agencies in judicial affairs.
The development came days after the Supreme Court declared the removal of former IHC Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui illegal, directing that he may now be considered as a retired judge.
The verdict noted that the SJC proceeded against Justice Siddiqui on the “assumption that the truth or falseness of the allegations levelled” by the former judge was “irrelevant”. It also noted that the SJC opined that Justice Siddiqui had failed to substantiate, independently corroborate, substantiate or prove the allegations levelled by him.
Following the emergence of the letter, on March 27, CJP Qazi Faez Isa chaired a full court meeting of the Supreme Court to deliberate on the matter that sought guidance from the SJC “with regard to the duty of a judge to report and respond to actions on the part of members of the executive, including operatives of intelligence agencies, that seek to interfere with the discharge of his/her official functions and qualify as intimidation”.
The two-hour huddle, convened by CJP Isa, took place after bar associations of Sindh, Lahore, Islamabad and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as well as senior lawyers demanded a probe into the allegations.
The next day CJP Isa met Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on the advice of the full court in the presence of the law minister, attorney general, senior puisne judge Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and the registrar of the apex court.
As a result of the meeting, the government decided to constitute a commission to probe into allegations leveled by the IHC judges.
Following the huddle, the federal cabinet on March 30 approved the constitution of an inquiry commission over allegations of the IHC judges and appointed former chief justice of Pakistan Justice (retired) Tassaduq Hussain Jillani as its head.