PTI govt set to defend Justice Isa reference in SC

AGP to present arguments amid lawyers’ claims of political motives behind charges

ISLAMABAD: A significant phase in the Justice Qazi Faez Isa case is set to start as Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Anwar Mansoor Khan will present his defence for the filing of a presidential reference against the Supreme Court (SC) judge for non-disclosure of family members in his wealth statement.

Salahuddin Ahmed, a member of Justice Isa's legal team, says he is looking forward to hearing the AGP’s submissions & how the bench reacts to them.

In the last hearing, the top court had asked the AGP to explain as to who had authorized an investigation into details of properties of Justice Qazi Faez Isa and his family.

A full 10-member apex court, headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial, is hearing the case regarding proceedings of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) against Justice Isa on account of non-disclosure of his family members’ properties.

The presidential reference against the SC judge had been filed on May 20 last year and the apex court had started hearing the case in September last year. After more than four months, the petitioner's side has now concluded its arguments.

At the end of the hearing on February 3, leading judge Justice Bandial had asked the AGP to satisfy the court on two questions. First, who authorized the investigation against the judges. Second, under what law could government functionaries announce in public about references that were in the council as, under Article 13 of SJC Procedure of Enquiry, proceedings of the council were to be conducted in camera and were not supposed to be open to the public.

Also, during the last hearing, the AGP had sought two weeks’ time to respond to all queries raised by the bench members and petitioner’s counsels.

It is learnt that Law Minister Dr Farogh Naseem is also expected to argue before the full court as the petitioner had made him a respondent in the case.

It has also been witnessed that the full court members have divergent views on different legal points. A few members are questioning the petition’s maintainability in view of Article 211 of the Constitution. Similarly, some judges are questioning the government procedure to collect evidence against the SC judge.

However, there is unanimous agreement among bench members that independence of the judiciary must be protected from undue interference of executive authorities.

It is expected that the apex court will conclude the hearing next month. This will be the first time a serving SC judge has received a show cause notice from the SJC.

It has also been witnessed that the filing of the presidential reference has been a reason for tension between superior bars and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led government. All superior bars challenged the Council proceedings against the SC judge as they believe that the presidential reference is a threat to the independence of the judiciary. The government had moved the reference against Justice Isa after his ruling in the Faizabad sit-in case.

Even lawyers have alleged that the military establishment was behind the filing of the presidential reference and that thus the judiciary itself was on trial in this case.

Justice Isa has also accused the Supreme Judicial Council led by former Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Asif Saeed Khosa as being biased against him. Justice Khosa and SJC secretary Arbab Arif have both since retired.

Earlier, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) had told the apex court that Justice Isa’s wife Sarina Isa’s tax record had been transferred from Islamabad to Karachi over her objections.

However, the FBR has contradicted the claim of Justice Isa’s wife and said she had not filed tax returns since 2008.

The revenue authority, through the AGP, has, however, submitted its report in the apex court to verify claims of Justice Qazi Faez Isa’s wife that she had stopped filing tax returns after 2008 as she had been unemployed by then and had sold her taxable property.