ISLAMABAD: Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi has accused Justice Sardar Tariq Masood of ‘deliberately’ postponing his opinion about the charges of misconduct against him with ‘nefarious design,’ in yet another illustration of the dissent among Supreme Court judges.
In a letter to Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP), who heads the SJC, a constitutional body which probes allegations of misconduct of a superior court judge, Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi expressed the fear that delay in formulating the opinion on the fate of a number of complaints by a member of the SJC was allegedly deliberate and by design.
Justice Naqvi in his letter added that reportedly, a number of frivolous complaints had been filed against him in the SJC in the recent past — being part of a malicious campaign against the judiciary in general and him in particular.
On May 29, the CJP sought the opinion of Justice Sardar Tariq Masood on complaints moved against the SC judge. The complaints accused Justice Naqvi of allegedly violating the Code of Conduct for judges and thus committing misconduct.
When a complaint or information is received by the SJC, it is always referred to a member of the council before initiating any formal proceedings of the judicial council to ascertain whether it was a fit case to be proceeded or not. Justice Masood is also a member of the five-man SJC.
“In the case of the undersigned, according to press reports, the complaints were referred to Mr Justice Sardar Tariq Masood on 29.05.2023 for expressing his opinion with regard to sufficiency or otherwise of the complaints. It is a matter of record that the said judge had written two letters dated 03.04.2023 and 26.04.2023 to the members of the Supreme Judicial Council and the undersigned showing his impatience and eagerness to initiate the proceedings before the Supreme Judicial Council,” it continued.
Justice Naqvi further wrote that the conduct of Justice Masood was not only surprising rather it was unprecedented and never ever a member of the SJC had acted in the manner as mentioned earlier.
It is the responsibility of the judge to whom the matter has been referred to form the opinion about the fate of the complaints as early as possible, preferably within a period of 14 days. Moreover, in case of an adverse opinion the respondent judge is also given an opportunity to defend himself within a fortnight.
But despite a period of several months, the judge concerned has not formed his opinion on the complaints, the letter said, adding that the secretary of the SJC was seized with a number of complaints but only Justice Naqvi was being discriminated against and targeted.
