SJC issues show-cause to Justice Isa for writing letters to Alvi

Complainant accuses Supreme Court judge of violating code of conduct

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) has issued another show-cause notice to Supreme Court judge Justice Qazi Faez Isa, this time for “writing letters to President Arif Alvi” after a presidential reference was filed against him.

Sources told The Express Tribune that Justice Isa has so far received two show-cause notices on separate charges.

The SJC in its fresh notice has asked Justice Isa to explain his conduct for writing letters to the president of Pakistan. It is learnt that SC judge has been given 14 days to submit his reply.

A Lahore-based lawyer Waheed Shahzad Butt had filed a complaint against Justice Isa for violating the code of conduct for members of the judiciary by “writing letters to the president of Pakistan and sharing it with the media”.

Interestingly, former Islamabad High Court judge Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui was also ousted for delivering a speech at the Rawalpindi Bar Association.

The lawyer in his application stated that “while writing letters to the president of Pakistan and sharing it with the media, Justice Isa appears to have committed gross misconduct and is liable to be removed upon the recommendation of the SJC in terms of Article-209 of the constitution of Pakistan”.

“[By] Choosing a public forum for voicing his personal and subjective views and opinions, Justice Isa has denounced the judiciary of this country as a whole, targeted the chief executive (prime minister) of the country and used offensive language to criticise the matter,” read the application which was also sent to President Arif Alvi and the Supreme Court registrar.

“By levelling such allegations publically without substantiating the same, Justice Isa has violated various articles of the Code of Conduct issued by the Honourable Supreme Judicial Council under the mandate of Article-209(8) of the constitution.”

In May, President Arif Alvi authorised the filing of references with the SJC against Justice Isa and Sindh High Court’s Justice KK Agha for allegedly not disclosing their foreign properties in their wealth statements.

Consequently, Justice Isa had written a letter to President Alvi seeking clarity regarding the reports that the government had filed a reference against him over allegations of misconduct. Copies of the letter were sent to Prime Minister Imran Khan and the apex court as well.

In the second letter to the president, the SC judge again requested a copy of the reference filed against him. He also expressed his concerns over the alleged media campaign against him.

It is learnt that the government has also contacted renowned lawyer Ali Zafar to plead the presidential reference against Justice Isa.