ISLAMABAD:
The Supreme Court adjourned till December 8 the hearing of Justice Isa's review petitions filed against the apex court’s June 19 order in his case on Monday.
The adjournment was ordered by a six-judge larger bench, headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial, after Justice Isa’s attorney Muneer A Malik sought adjournment of the case as he was self-isolating after his deputy and a family member tested positive for Covid-19.
Federal Law Minister Farogh Naseem and Additional Attorney General Amir Rehman appeared on behalf of the government at today's hearing.
Sarina Isa, wife of Justice Isa, also appeared before the court during the hearing. She was told by the court that her petition for formation of a full-court will be heard later.
Responding to the court, Justice Isa's wife said that her name was mentioned several times in the case despite her not being a party to it. However, the court assured her that her petition will be heard.
Justice Bandial also deferred hearing of senior lawyer Hamid Khan's plea, who is representing the Supreme Court Bar Association in the case that challenged the filing of the presidential reference against Justice Isa, as well as lawyer Bilal Manto's plea.
He observed that the court will wait for Muneer A Malik's return.
Senior lawyer Rasheed A Razvi informed the court that Malik had requested for a four-week adjournment.
Justice Bandial while adjourning the hearing till December 8, allowed the attorneys of those party to the case to submit additional arguments to the court during this time.
According to sources, Malik had moved an application in the apex court seeking adjournment of the hearing. Malik in his application said he has been advised isolation as his associate counsel Salahuddin Ahmed and a family member have tested positive for Covid-19.
On June 19, the 10-judge full-court quashed a presidential reference that alleged that Justice Isa had committed misconduct by not disclosing his family member’s foreign properties in his wealth statement. The reference had sought his removal.
In the split order, seven of the judges had, however, referred the case to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and ordered the tax authority to launch an inquiry into foreign assets of Justice Isa’s family.
The short order had asked the FBR chairman to present a report on the basis of the inquiry to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), the constitutional forum that can hold a superior judge accountable.
The judges included in the larger bench that will hear the review petitions are those who wrote the majority judgment. However, one member of the bench, Justice Faisal Arab, has retired.
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