CJ Isa puts term extension rumours to rest

Says the govt could extend terms of other chief justices

ISLAMABAD:

Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJ) Qazi Faez Isa has said he is not going to accept an extension in his term in office, which is going to end on October 25 this year. However, the government may very well extend the term of employment of other chief justices.

The CJ, who was having an informal interaction with the media after a ceremony held to mark the new judicial year, referred to a meeting attended by SC's senior puisne judge Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Federal Minister for Law Azam Nazeer Tarar and Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Awan.

"In that meeting, it was informed that the government is going to give an extension in the term of all chief justices. I told them that they may extend the term of other chief justices but this extension is not acceptable to me. I don't even know if I could see the next day," he added.

Talking with reference to a case with regard to alleged meddling by intelligence agencies in the affairs of high and lower courts in Islamabad, the CJ said the three-member committee of the Supreme Court will decide as to when the matter will be taken up.

The apex court had taken suo motu notices of the executive's alleged interference in judicial matters after six of the eight judges of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) sent a letter to the CJ, accusing intelligence agencies of using coercive tactics to influence judges.

Justice Isa clarified that the committee had not listed the case for hearing due to indisposition of one of the bench members, Justice Mussarat Hilali. In reply to a question about the goals set for the next judicial year, he said the SC is going to bring improvement in the case management system.

"There is still much to be done," he added.

 

Full court reference

 

Earlier, addressing the full court reference, the chief justice detailed the steps taken during the last one year. He said that predicting outcome of a litigation on the basis of bench was now a thing of past. He said the one who did not admit to own mistakes was not heading in the right direction.

The reference was attended by Supreme Court judges, Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Usman Mansoor Awan, Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) Vice Chairman Farooq H Naek Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Shehzad Shaukat and others.

Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court, could not attend because he was out of the country, while Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel was also could not attend because of the death of his nephew. Justice Muneeb Akhtar was also not present.

The chief justice said that previously, the court decisions were predicted only by seeing the composition of the bench. "But now, even I don't know which judges on my left and right will hear which case," he said, adding that now the registrar decided which case would go to which bench.

For the first time in Pakistan's history, he mentioned, a Supreme Court judge was dismissed over mismanagement. He added that the court allowed live transmission of the important cases directly to the people in order to ensure transparency.

He pointed out that after nine days, he would complete on year in the office of the chief justice. He also dilated on the privileges of the chief justices, which he did not avail. He said that he returned a 3000 cc Mercedes-Benz and a bulletproof LandCruiser parked in the Lahore Registry to the government.

Similarly, he added that all the persons who were on deputation in the Supreme Court had been repatriated because the postings on deputation affected the promotion of the Supreme Court staff. Because of this, he added, 146 employees of the Supreme Court were promoted.

He also highlighted important cases decided during his tenure, including the Supreme Court practice and Procedure Act case, the matter about conducting the general elections, the case related to Margalla National Park and presidential reference over hanging of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.