PTI govt unlikely to withdraw Justice Isa reference

Official says willingness of judge’s wife to record statement before FBR not enough reason to withdraw reference

ISLAMABAD: The PTI-led federal government is not interested in withdrawing a presidential reference, seeking removal of the Supreme Court judge, Qazi Faez Isa, over his alleged misconduct.

The reference, filed in May last year, claimed that the judge’s family members own foreign properties but he failed to mention the fact in his wealth statement, and thus committed misconduct.

On basis of the reference, the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) – the constitutional body that can hold superior court judges accountable – started its inquiry as it sent show cause notices to Justice Isa.

Proceedings of the SJC – comprising senior-most judges of the apex court and two high courts – were halted after a number of petitioners, including Justice Isa, moved the Supreme Court.

During hearing of Justice Isa case on Wednesday, a member of the 10-judge bench – Justice Yahya Afridi – asked Additional Attorney General Chaudhry Amir Rehman to find out whether the president is willing to withdraw the reference against Justice Isa in the light of some new development.

The judge was referring to Mrs Isa’s readiness to file statement before the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). However, two senior government functionaries said the government had no such intention.

Talking to The Express Tribune, he also expressed surprise over the bench's query, stating that appearance of Justice Isa’s spouse before the FBR was no basis to withdraw the presidential reference.

"I will withdraw reference but the SC judge should present money trail for the purchase of his family members’ properties in the United Kingdom (UK),” he added.

When The Express Tribune contacted Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Anwar Mansoor Khan, he also confirmed that the government still has no plan to withdraw the reference.

The 10-judge full-court led by Justice Umar Ata Bandial has conducted 26 hearings of the case.

The petitioners’ side is expected to conclude their arguments next week. Counsels for federal government and other respondents will present their arguments after that.

Minister for Law Dr Farogh Naseem is expected to appear before the court to argue the case as the SC judge has made him a respondent in the petition.

AGP Anwar Mansoor Khan will also argue on behalf of the government to explain that the reference against SC judge is not based on malafide.

Special Assistant to PM on Accountability Shahzad Akbar, who is also chairman of the Asset Recovery Unit (ARU), is also a respondent in this case. The ARU was among the institutions that conducted investigation into properties owned by Justice Isa’s family.

A senior official said once the SJC starts proceedings by issuing show cause notice, the apex court has no jurisdiction to entertain his petition. Representatives of the superior bars, however, believe that the PTI government has taken a U-turn on the case.

In the presidential reference, the government had contended that Justice Isa violated tax law by not disclosing his family members’ foreign properties in his wealth statement.

Now the government officials say these foreign properties were benami of Justice Isa and he is their ostensible owner.  Likewise, they question the source through which these properties were purchased.

It is witnessed during the previous hearings that the full-court members have divergent views on the different legal points. However, all are unanimous that independence of judiciary must be protected from undue interference of executive authorities.

Earlier, Justice Isa had also accused the SJC led by former chief justice (CJ) Asif Saeed Khosa of biasness. Justice Khosa and the SJC secretary Arbab Arif have now retired.

Opinion is divided as to whether appearance of the SC judge's spouse before the FBR would affect his case. It is not clear whether the FBR has issued notice to her about nondisclosure of her foreign properties.

A senior PTI leader believes that that was not a wise decision to file the presidential reference.

“We should learn lesson from history. Whenever the executive moves the SJC for ousting a judge, the majority of judges get united. We also witnessed this in former CJ Iftikhar Chaudhry case,” he added.