A day after Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed restrained Justice Qazi Faez Isa from hearing cases against Prime Minister Imran Khan in a judgement pertaining to the development funds allegedly doled out to the lawmakers, Justice Isa wrote a letter to the SC registrar saying why the judgement wasn’t shared with him even though it was a “standard practice”.
On Thursday, the CJP-led bench ruled that Justice Isa “should not hear matters involving the prime minister”.
“The Hon. Chief Justice of Pakistan, therefore, observed that in these circumstances it would not be proper for the judge [Isa] to hear the matter considering that he had already filed a petition against the Prime Minister of Pakistan, in his personal capacity. Therefore, to uphold the principle of unbiasedness and impartiality, it would be in the interest of justice that the judge should not hear matters” concerning PM Imran Khan, the order on the SC website read.
In response to this ban, Justice Isa wrote a letter to the SC registrar. “I have learnt that an order/judgment (don’t know which one) was passed in the subject case on 11 February 2021, and released to the media. This is shocking since, as yet, I have not received the file with the order/judgement.”
“It is settled practice that after the judge heading the bench (in this case, the CJP) writes the order/judgement, it is sent to the next senior judge, and to on; however, Justice ljaz ul Ahsan apparently received it, but I never did, and the world knows of it before I’ve seen it,” the judge complained.
Justice Isa asked why the order wasn’t shared with him and release to the media even before it was shared with him. “Kindly let me know: (1) Why the order/judgment was not sent to me, (2) Why the settled practice of sending it to the next senior judge was not followed? (3) Why was it released to the media before I read it (let alone had the opportunity to sign it in agreement/disagreement)? (4) Who ordered its release to the media? (5) And, provide me with the case file so I may finally read the order/judegment,” he wrote.
BAR CONCERNED OVER RULING:
Balochistan Bar Council, in a statement, expressed concerns over the ruling banning the senior judge from hearing the cases involving the premier. It regretted that such a directive was against legal and constitutional principles, especially when a 10-judge Supreme Court bench had already quashed the presidential reference filed against Justice Isa — a reference which they said was based on malice.
Former Pakistan Bar Council vice-chairman Abid Saqi said that one set of judges of a constituted bench could not issue a directive to the other bench or any of the judges of the bench, not to hear a matter, as per a report in Dawn.
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