SC to resume Justice Isa’s case hearing on Monday

Case was delisted on Wednesday due to unavailability of Justice Miankhel

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court will resume hearing of Justice Qazi Faez Isa’s case on October 21 (Monday) at 1pm.

Earlier on Wednesday, the case was delisted due to unavailability of Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel – a member of the full court hearing the case.

Justice Miankhel was unavailable due to the sudden demise of one of his first cousins additional Sindh inspector general Shahid Hayat.

The full court is hearing a slew of petitions against a presidential reference filed in May this year to remove Justice Isa due to non-disclosure of his assets in the wealth statement.

The bench, headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial, includes Justice Maqbool Baqar, Justice Manzoor Ahmad Malik, Justice Faisal Arab, Justice Miankhel, Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed.

The hearing on Monday will be the fifth one conducted by this full court.

Justice Isa’s counsel Munir A Malik is of the view that the reference “is based on mala fide intentions”.

Justice Bandial said it would not be possible for the bench to hear all of the matters brought forth by the lawyers and the bar associations in the case.

Further, certain quarters said it would be interesting to see whether Justice Isa’s case proceeding would be wrapped up during the tenure of Chief Justice of Pakistan Asif Saeed Khosa, who is set to retire in December 2019, or go beyond that.

The senior lawyers witnessing the proceeding feel that the bench seemed to be divided, adding that in view of the previous hearings, it was not clear whether things would go against or in favour of Justice Isa.