CJP to take up plea to withdraw reference against Justice Isa

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial will take up on April 10 the federal government’s request to withdraw the infamous “curative review petition,” which was moved against Justice Qazi Faez Isa, a sitting Supreme Court judge, by the PTI government.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had recently ordered the authorities concerned not to pursue the curative review petition. He had asked them to withdraw the petition from the Supreme Court.

The CJP will take up in his chambers a set of 12 applications concerning the curative review. The pleas include the applications moved by the government for the withdrawal of the curative review petition.

On June 23, 2022, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar had also made a statement suggesting taking back the curative review petition, which his predecessor Dr Farogh Naseem had moved before the Supreme Court against Justice Isa.

The former PTI government had pleaded before the Supreme Court that its April 26, 2021 majority judgement in the Justice Qazi Faez Isa review case should not be left in the field for being “manifestly and patently unjust, against the public interest and public good which defeats the judicial accountability”.

On April 26, 2021, the apex court by a majority of six to four had overturned its majority ruling of June 19, 2022. The court had ordered investigation by tax authorities into three foreign properties in the name of the wife and children of Justice Isa.

The curative appeal was moved on behalf of President Dr Arif Alvi, the previous federal government through secretary law, former prime minister Imran Khan, former law minister Dr Farogh Naseem, former adviser on accountability Shahzad Akbar, etc.

The curative review had argued that the April 26 majority judgement had sufficiently closed the doors of judicial accountability in general as well as the accountability of Justice Isa in respect of allegations and information which had come on record. The majority judgement had also diluted the standards of judicial accountability, rather a shield was provided to the judges of superior courts to hide behind the doctrine of judicial independence only to evade judicial accountability, argued the appeal.

The majority judgement also failed to emphasise that the duty of the officials, judges, qazis and public servants to explain their finances and assets, owes its genesis to our religion and glorious heritage, apart from being fully backed by modern jurisprudence and that the assets and finances of close relatives of public servants, officials, judges, qazis, etc such as their spouses and dependent children are also required to be explained, the appeal stressed.

Moreover, the majority judgement had allegedly usurped the jurisdiction of the Supreme Judicial Council in violation of Articles 209 and 211 and hence patently unconstitutional and thus liable to be revisited since under the Constitution it is only the SJC which could have cleared Justice Isa.

Published in Dawn, April 9th, 2023