SC verdict a ‘relief’ for govt

Top court hasn’t passed any coercive observations against any of its functionaries

ISLAMABAD:

The Supreme Court on Saturday sent the ball in the federal government's court by not passing any coercive observations against any of its functionaries in its majority detailed judgment in Justice Qazi Faez Isa and others’ review petitions against April 19, 2020 judgment wherein the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) was directed to conduct an inquiry into the foreign properties of the SC judge’s family members.

Even a ruling party lawmaker termed the SC detailed judgment as “relief” to the federal government, whose presidential reference against the top court judge was quashed without any penal consequence.

However, he expressed his concerns over Justice Yahya Afridi's additional note wherein it was held that top government officials including Prime Minister Imran Khan, Law Minister Dr Farogh Naseem and Mirza Shahzad Akbar, then chairman of the Assets Recovery Unit (ARU), had violated section 216 of Income Tax Ordinance 2001 by breaching the confidentiality of tax records of Justice Isa’s family members.

“Though one judge's opinion has no legal consequence, but questions may arise on the moral authority of the government, the PTI lawmaker added.

Therefore, he said now the ball was in the government's court as what to gesture would be given to the top court after this ruling.

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The PTI lawmaker said that neither earlier, nor now was he in favour of the government's curative review against April 26, 2021 short order.

The curative review is still pending in the apex court, which had raised objections on its maintainability. Later, the law ministry had filed an appeal against the registrar’s office order.

It has been learnt that the government’s legal team was divided on the filing of the curative review petition.

Initially, Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Khalid Jawed Khan was not in favour of it. However, he later agreed with the condition that in case the court did not give any finding or observation against government functionaries, then the curative review would be withdrawn.

Senior lawyers’ bodies said that now it was a test for the AGP was to whether or not he would be able to convince the prime minister on the withdrawal of the review petition.

Sources in the AGP office also told The Express Tribune that the AGP would meet the PM to discuss this matter soon.

The civil-military relationship is also important in this matter. It has been learnt that PM Imran did not want any confrontation with the judiciary on this issue.

However, the security establishment is an important player and its reaction to the detailed judgment will be crucial. It remains to be seen whether powerful circles also want the withdrawal of curative review petition or they are determined to evolve a new strategy for ousting Justice Isa, who would become the Chief Justice of Pakistan next year.

Senior lawyers said Law Minister Dr Naseem had always been successful in convincing the government functionaries including the establishment regarding his legal opinion in this case.

They added that it would be important to know what the law minister was thinking about the future course of action in this matter. However, a senior government functionary is upset on his TV interview on the detailed judgment.

A lawyer, who was part of Justice Isa’s legal team, said the majority judgment reflected that mots judges were no longer interested in confronting both the government as well as minority judges.

“Their purpose was to secure the independence of judiciary by quashing the FBR proceedings,” he added.

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He expected that the minority judgment would also take care of mutual respect and avoid giving any observation which may disturb the pleasant environment of court.

The senior lawyers further said it was also a test for future CJP Umar Ata Bandial in case the government again moved against Justice Isa, who would be senior puisne judge for more than a year.

They believe that if incoming CJP Bandial resolved issues related to Justice Isa as well as SC judges’ appointment, he will be remembered in good words in history.

The filing of the government reference against Justice Isa has severely affected the working of the apex court since May 2019.

There is even a perception that judges are divided into two camps. Unfortunately, outgoing CJP Gulzar Ahmed failed to end the perception that there is division among SC judges.

However, the legal community is hoping that incoming CJP Bandial will end this perception by taking several steps including continuous meetings of the SC full court.