SJC starts acting on complaints against top judges

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Judicial Council has been finally activated to consider complaints of misconduct against superior court judges. The council has held a couple of meetings to listen to grievances against a few judges during the tenure of the current chief justice, The Express Tribune has learnt.

The SJC is a body of judges empowered under Article 209 of the Constitution to hear cases of misconduct against top judges.  A judge belonging to the superior judiciary can only be removed on the recommendations of the SJC. No superior court judge has been ousted by the council since the 1970s.

Sources told The Express Tribune the council has identified some cases of alleged misconduct, wherein further proceedings have been initiated. If the allegations against any judge are found to be serious, then he may be summoned or asked to give a written reply over a show-cause notice.

In September last year, CJP Anwar Zaheer Jamali in his first speech after taking oath of his office had vowed to make the SJC effective.

On October 30, 2015, the chief justice said around 90% of the complaints filed against the judges of superior judiciary had become outdated because the council had been inactive for the past few years.

The vast majority of references had become infructuous since most of those judges had retired after completing their terms.

The CJP also said the remaining 10% complaints were “in the pipeline” and the SJC would contemplate invoking Article 209 over these complaints.

Likewise, the SC’s senior-most judge, Justice Saqib Nisar, in his judgment on the 21st Constitutional Amendment case had observed no judge of a superior court in Pakistan had ever been prosecuted in a criminal court.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 14^th, 2016.