Supreme Court picks: Isa wants rejected names dropped

Judge says names of five high court CJs may be considered in JCP huddle

ISLAMABAD:

 

Supreme Court’s Justice Qazi Faez Isa on Sunday urged Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial to withdraw the names of those junior high court judges, who had already been rejected by the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP), for their elevation to the apex court.

In a letter to the CJP, who also heads the JCP, Justice Isa placed forward for consideration the names of the chief justices of the five high courts for the forthcoming meeting of the body.

He added that the chief justices together with the senior-most judges of the five high courts could also be considered – as proposed by two JCP members.

The two-page letter by the senior puisne judge came just a day after the superior bars strongly objected to the nominations of three junior judges of the high courts for their elevation to the apex court.

Currently, the top court is short of five judges out of a total strength of 17.

The names of judges, who have been recommended for the elevation, include Justice Athar Minallah of the Islamabad High Court, Justice Shahid Waheed of the Lahore High Court and Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi and Justice Shafi Siddiqui of the Sindh High Court.

Since February this year, no SC judge has been appointed.

Read CJP proposes four names for elevation to SC

CJP Bandial had summoned a meeting of the JCP on July 28 this year to consider his five nominees, but a consensus could not be reached among the body’s members.

“Needless to state that the particulars and judgments of the chief justices and senior-most judges of the five high courts are already known to all of us", the letter read.

Justice Isa noted that CJP Bandial had contradicted himself in the note when he stated that the meeting of the JCP was being resumed on October 24, 2022.

“The resumption of a meeting, after a period of about three months, is something which is alien to the law and common sense," the judge wrote.

"In any event, the composition of the JCP has undergone a change since the last meeting. And, how can the meeting of July 28, 2022, be stated to be 'resumed on October 24, 2022' with a different agenda?" he questioned.

He noted that the agenda for the meeting of July 28 was to consider four junior judges and the chief justice of the Peshawar High Court.

“But the agenda of the meeting for October 24 is to consider three junior judges and the chief justice of the Islamabad High Court,” he added.

Justice Isa stated that putting forward the names of three junior judges, whose nominations had already been rejected, "disparages and disrespects the honourable members [of the JCP]".

He added that the moved also undermined the credibility and integrity of the JCP.

"Let the hon'ble chairman [CJP] not be remiss in remembering that he, and all of us, occupy our respective positions because the people of Pakistan stood up against dictatorship; they did not substitute the dictatorial rule of a man in uniform with that of a man in robes,” the letter read.

Justice Isa further wrote that CJP Bandial did not “deign it appropriate to discuss what he was proposing, or even inform him”, despite the fact that he occupied a room next to his.

He added that he wished to remind the CJP by reproducing the WhatsApp message where he mentioned that members of the JCP had rejected the nominations.

“The secretary’s letter reproduces a hitherto undisclosed note written by the hon’ble chairman to himself. The note refers to the JCP meeting held on 28 July 2022 and incorrectly states that the ‘meeting was subsequently adjourned’, but also states that it was adjourned for a number of reasons’. Since the hon’ble chairman forgets what happened in the … meeting, I wish to remind his lordship by reproducing the WhatsApp message I had sent to him, and to all hon’ble members, on 28 July 2022,” he wrote.

“After a detailed discussion, the majority of the hon’ble members of the JCP of decided to reject the nominations of the three junior judges of the Sindh High Court and one junior judge of the Lahore High Court,” the letter read.

Also Read Bars oppose elevation of junior judges to SC

“As regards the hon’ble chief justice of the Peshawar High Court, it was decided that since he was neither the senior-most chief justice nor the senior-most judge from amongst the five high courts, his name may be considered when placed alongside those of his peers,” Justice Isa wrote.

“The hon’ble chairman did not dictate the decisions that were taken, and left the meeting quite abruptly,” he added.

"Instead the honourable chairman took the most unusual step of issuing a press release through the PRO of the Supreme Court, to which I responded thus: ‘And I’ve learnt that you have behind our backs issued an unapproved and unilateral press release through the PRO. Is he a member of the JCP?’” the judge wrote.

He added that the CJP had then issued another press release.

To which, Justice Isa wrote, he had responded by telling the CJP that he issued another press release and “once again behind our backs”.

The judge maintained that the CJP had “misused his office by issuing the two press releases”.

Justice Isa also raised an objection to the release of an audio recording of the last JCP meeting.

He added that it was not disclosed that the meeting was being secretly recorded and that permission was not sought from the JCP before releasing the audio recording of the huddle.

“The hon’ble chairman, and I say this with the greatest of respect, misused his office by issuing two press releases and releasing the audio recording of the JCP meeting. The audio recording confirms what I wrote. Significantly, the person performing the functions of the secretary of the JCP has not, till date, written the minutes of the … meeting which was held about three months ago. This leads one to believe that either the hon’ble chairman did not sign them or the secretary was not prepared to endorse the fictional account put forward by the hon’ble chairman,” the letter read.

“Regrettably, releasing the recording by the head of the judiciary, the hon’ble members [if they knew] may have been more circumspect in undermining the credibility and authority of serving judges of the high court,” Justice Isa wrote.

The JCP meeting is being held on Monday (today) to consider the nomination of four high court judges for their elevation to the SC.