ISLAMABAD: Justice Qazi Faez Isa, the senior most judge of Supreme Court, has asked Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial to withdraw the names of the three junior judges who have been rejected by the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) in July 28 meeting.
In a partially reported letter sent to JCP’s chairman Justice Bandial on October 21, Justice Isa said that he requested CJP to withdraw these names already rejected by JCP. “I most humbly request the Hon’ble Chairman to act constitutionally, legally and morally and withdraw the names of those junior judges.” He added.
It should be noted that on a JCP meeting is scheduled to consider nomination of Justice Shahid Waheed of Lahore High Court, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi and Justice Shafi Siddiqui of Sindh High Court, besides Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Athar Minallah, for their elevation to the apex court.
The move to reconsider the names of three judges for elevation to the Supreme Court, months after the JCP had rejected them, alarmed Pakistan’s legal community on October 22. The lawyers’ community vowed to challenge any such nomination, even if it were to be approved by the JCP in its Monday meeting.
Resolutions from the Sindh Bar Council (SBC), the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), and the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) have expressed concern.
Justice Isa requested in his letter to the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) that he take into consideration submitting the names of the chief justices of the five high courts, or, as suggested earlier by two JCP members, the chief justices along with the senior most judges of the five high courts, failing which, let this constitute the agenda of the upcoming meeting.
Justice Isa expressed disappointment that the chairman did not inform the members that the meeting was being “secretly recorded” at the time and did not even seek permission from JCP before releasing the audio recording of the JCP’s most recent meeting on July 28.
The participants might have been more reserved in their expression of opinion if it had been made clear that the meeting was being recorded and that its recording might be made public. Sadly, the letter stated that the release of the recording by the chief of the judiciary has damaged the reputation and standing of the high court’s sitting judges.
