Show cause-notice: Apex court accepts LHC judge’s petition

Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi has voluntarily stopped hearing cases

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has agreed to conduct an early hearing of a constitutional petition filed by a serving Lahore High Court (LHC) judge over a show-cause notice against his alleged misconduct. The notice was issued to Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi by the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC).

A two-judge bench of the apex court, comprising Justice Amir Hani Muslim and Justice Manzoor Ahmad Malik, will take up the constitutional petition today. The show-cause notice was issued by the council on April 19. The notice is based on the sub-para (1) of para 9 of the, 2005, SJC’s Procedure of Enquiry.

Justice Naqvi had filed a constitutional petition in the country’s top court against the show cause notice. However the SC registrar returned the petition after he found four objections in the plea. But the court rejected the registrar office’s objections on May 11 and admitted the petition for a regular hearing. Last week, Justice Naqvi had moved another application requesting to fix his case on June 13, which has been accepted.

Raza Kazim, counsel for the petitioner, told The Express Tribune that he has filed a plea for the constitution of a larger bench to oversee the case. The issue shall be decided by the bench. The counsel said, “I will again request the bench to refer the matter before a larger bench as similar nature of cases like former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry’s petition was heard by the larger bench.” However, he attached an objection that the judges who are members of the SJC, should not be allowed to sit on the larger bench, if the request is accepted.

The chief justice of Pakistan serves as the chairman of the body, along with two senior chief justices of the high courts, which oversee complaints against incompetent judges or those who have been accused of misconduct.

The Express Tribune has also learnt that Justice Naqvi has voluntarily stopped hearing cases for some time now in the wake of the show cause notice.

Meanwhile, the SJC had summoned Justice Ali Baqar Najafi of the LHC over a complaint of misconduct against him, on June 2. However, the case against him was dropped once his point of view was heard. The council has also dropped cases against two superior courts judges namely Justice Shahid Hamid Dar and Justice Daud, last month.

In another case the SJC has rejected the reply of a LHC judge over the show cause notice served to him. The council has also concluded to take further action against him. Meanwhile, one Islamabad High Court judge has requested the council to give him time for submitting reply over a show cause notice he has been issued with.

The SJC has been reactivated by incumbent Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Anwar Zaheer Jamali. The council was inactive for more than seven years and has registered 200 complaints since its inception in 2005.

A larger bench, headed by Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali himself, is expected to be formed to hear more than one dozen cases of military court convicts today. The larger bench has also listed the cases of missing persons.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 12^th, 2016.