CJP Isa schedules SJC meeting for tomorrow

Council to discuss allegations of misconduct against judges of higher courts

ISLAMABAD:

Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa is going to convene a meeting of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) on Friday to discuss various complaints filed against superior court judges.

The SJC is the only constitutional forum that can examine the conduct of superior courts judges and recommend their removal under Article 209 of the Constitution.

Justice Isa is the SJC chairman. Its other members are Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Lahore High Court Chief Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti and Balochistan High Court Chief Justice Naeem Afghan.

Sources revealed to The Express Tribune that the meeting scheduled to be held at 11:30am will consider all pending complaints of misconduct moved against superior courts’ judges. More than two dozen complaints have been pending with the SJC, some of them for years, they added.

Under the SJC inquiry rules, the SJC chairman—CJP Qazi Faez Isa—had referred complaints filed against the two serving SC judges and two retired CJPs to Justice Masood seeking his opinion.

Some citizens had filed complaints against Justice Ijazul Ahsan as well as former CJPs Umar Ata Bandial and Mian Saqib Nisar. A complaint had also been filed against Justice Ayesha Malik.

Justice Masood, after reviewing the complaints, sent his opinion to the SJC chairman, declaring that these complaints were not maintainable as they were based on judicial orders upheld in the apex court.

Earlier this year, some lawyers and superior bars had also filed complaints against Supreme Court Justice Sayyed Muhammad Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, accusing him of financial corruption.

In April, Justice Isa and Justice Masood had written a judicial letter to Justice Bandial, then the CJP, as well as other members of the council to convene a SJC meeting to review these allegations.

In May, Justice Bandial had referred the matter to Justice Tariq Masood for legal opinion. However, no meeting of the SJC was reported during Justice Bandial's tenure.

According to Section 7 of the SJC Procedure of Enquiry Rules 2005, once any information in respect of inquiry into the conduct of a judge is received by any member or the council, it is presented to the council’s chairman.

“[The chairman] shall (a) refer the same to any member of the council to look into the said information; and to express his opinion in relation to the sufficiency or otherwise of the information.

“If the council is satisfied that the information prima facie discloses sufficient material for an inquiry, it shall proceed to consider the same.”

It states that the member, to whom the chairman has referred the information, would “examine the same and ascertain if the information so received discloses specific particulars of misconduct, and provides factual details necessary to form prima facie opinion in respect of the guilt of the judge”.

If the member forms an opinion that the information does reveal sufficient material to commence an inquiry, he informs the council accordingly and the information is placed before the council.

“If the member comes to a conclusion that the information is false, frivolous, concocted or untrue, he shall inform the council accordingly and may recommend action against the person who initiated the information,” it notes.

Interestingly, no SC judge so far has been removed in the SJC’s history.