In a first, Justice Isa included in special bench

ISLAMABAD:

For the first time, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial has included senior puisne judge Justice Qazi Faez Isa in a special bench hearing a suo motu case.

The CJP has formed a three-judge special bench, led by Justice Isa, to hear a suo motu case related to examining the grant of 20 additional marks to a Hafiz-e-Quran student while admitting them for an MBBS/BDS degree.

The bench would see if it fell in line with the MBBS and BDS (Admission, House Job and Internship) Regulations 2018.

The suo motu was numbered last year.

Other members of the bench are Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Shahid Waheed.

The bench will take up the matter on March 15.

It was reported in January last year that a bench led by Justice Isa while hearing a matter had questioned the additional marks for Hafiz-e-Quran students.

Hafiz-e-Quran students are awarded 20 additional marks in merit for undergraduate admissions in any degree programme.

The court had issued notices to the federation, Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC), and others.

The bench had questioned why additional marks should be given for admission to medical and other universities on the basis of being a Hafiz-e-Quran.

Senior lawyers, however, are questioning if a judge, who has already disclosed his opinion on a certain matter, should hear a suo motu case on the same issue.

However, after the issuance of the cause list, a debate has started as to whether or not the winds, or at the very least, a slight breeze of change had started blowing in the apex court, where questions were being raised for not including two senior-most judges -- Justice Isa and Justice Sardar Tariq Masood -- in special or larger benches hearing constitutional and politically sensitive high-profile cases.

There is a strong perception that some particular judges are being included in most of the politically sensitive matters for the last five years.

SC judge Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah in his additional note in a recent case noted that the CJP in his order, had written that the elections in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab was a matter of great public importance, convincing him to invoke suo motu jurisdiction.

“But, in spite of [this] observation, the two senior-most Hon’ble Judges of this Court have not been made part of this Bench to hear and decide upon the matters of “great public importance”, for reasons not expressed in the order constituting the present Bench,” Justice Shah continued.

“Our greatest strength as an apex judicial institution lies in the public confidence and public trust people of our country repose in us. Our impartiality, including the public perception of our impartiality, transparency and openness in dispensing justice must at all times be undisputed and beyond reproach,” the judge added in his additional note.

Former CJP Jawad S Khawaja in his recently published book -- “Slaughtered without a knife” -- wrote that the top judge's power could be used in the best of institutional and public interest.

“It would be in my opinion, be dishonest to exercise such power to satisfy personal whims, settle some personal scores or advance a hidden agenda. It is for this reason that openness and transparency in the exercise of such authority is essential for preserving the greatest asset of the court, its credibility and high moral standing, visible for all to see,” he added in his book.

Ex-CJP Khawaja also wrote that when administrative actions were taken by the chief justice and there was an appearance of arbitrariness in the choice of judges of a particular bench, the credibility of the court was undermined.

He maintained that as a consequence, the authority of the court was eroded in the public eye.

“A perception can with some justification develop that the choice of judges is meant to achieve a particular result in view of the leanings and proclivities of the selected judges,” he explained.

Former additional attorney general Tariq Mahmood Khokhar said the CJP’s detractors criticised even his right moves for the wrong reasons.

“I think it is a welcome change, albeit belatedly but the basis remains the same old arbitrary power,” he added.

On a lighter note, Khokhar also quoted a Latin phrase, which meant: “I fear the Greeks even when bearing gifts.”