Ex-CJP Tassaduq Hussain Jillani refuses to head commission formed to probe six IHC judges’ letter

ISLAMABAD, April 01 (SABAH): Minutes after the Supreme Court of Pakistan took suo motu notice on six Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) judges’ letter, former chief justice of Pakistan Tassaduq Hussain Jillani recused himself from heading the one-man commission formed by the government to probe the allegations regarding the intelligence interference in judicial matters.

The former CJ, while excusing himself, noted that since the letter was written by the judges to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) and chief justice, it would have been “violative of judicial propriety” for him to probe the matter, which he argued, may fall “within the jurisdiction of a constitutional body which is the Supreme Judicial Council or the Supreme Court of Pakistan itself”.

Justice (retd) Tassaduq Hussain Jillani also noted that the “terms of the reference for inquiry” were not relevant to the subject asked to probe by the six IHC judges in their letter. He also noted that at the end of the letter the judges had requested for an “institutional consultation” on the issue.

“Though, the letter in question may not strictly fall within the parameters of Article 209 of the Constitution, but the Chief Justice of Pakistan being a paterfamilias may address and resolve the issues raised in the letter at the institutional level. For the afore-referred reasons, I recuse myself to head the commission and proceed with the inquiry,” said Justice (retd) Jillani in the letter.