a day ago
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- Business Recorder
SJC decides 19 complaints, defers 5
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), unanimously, decided 19 complaints out of 24, and deferred five for the time being.
In February, the SJC had examined as many as 46 complaints against constitutional office-holders, disposed of 40 of them, sought comments on five complaints and asked for further information in one case.
According to a press release, issued by PRO SC on Saturday, the Council examined 24 complaints under Article 209 of the Constitution. It said, '19 complaints were unanimously decided to be filed while five others were deferred for the time being.'
The Council meeting was held under the chairmanship of Chief Justice Yahya Afridi, who is also Chairman of the SJC at Supreme Court, Islamabad. It was attended by Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah (present through video link), Justice Munib Akhtar, Chief Justice Lahore High Court Aalia Neelum and Chief Justice Sindh High Court Muhammad Junaid Ghaffar.
The sources said that during the meeting a proposal by CJP Yahya was placed before the members that action should be taken against those complainants who file frivolous applications against the judges of the superior courts in order to discourage such practice. However, the Council did not approve it, and also preferred that judges whose names are cleared by the SJC are not disclosed.
The Council discussed all the agenda items one by one. The proposed draft of Supreme Judicial Council Secretariat Service Rules, 2025 was approved by the council, while it was resolved that procedure of enquiry and amendments in the Code of Conduct needed to be examined from legal and drafting point of view; therefore, these required further deliberation.
Six judges of the Islamabad High Court (IHC), Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Justice Tariq Mahmood Jahangiri, Justice Babar Sattar, Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan, Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir and Justice Saman Raffat Imtiaz, on March 25, 2024 had written a letter to the SJC against the alleged 'interference' and 'intimidation' by the 'operatives of intelligence agencies.'
In their letter, they sought guidance from the SJC with regard to 'the duty of a judge to report and respond to actions on part of members of the executive, including operatives of intelligence agencies that seek to interfere with discharge of his/ her official functions and qualify as intimidation'.
Former Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa in response to their letter held various meetings with the Supreme Court judges and even with the Prime Minister. He then formed a one-man Commission comprising ex-CJP Tassaduq Hussain Jillani to probe the allegations of the IHC judges. However, Justice Tassaduq, due to trolling on social media declined to head the commission.
Ex-CJP Faez then took a suo moto and constituted a seven-member bench to examine the IHC judges' concerns. The bench conducted three hearings on it. However, Justice Yahya, who was also a member of the bench, opposed the suo moto and recused from the bench. He in his order had proposed that as the IHC judges wrote a letter to the SJC; therefore, the Council should do something about it.
Justice Yahya after becoming Chief Justice of Pakistan summoned the SJC meeting, wherein Justice Munib was appointed as head of a committee to propose amendments to the code of conduct. The sources said, in today's (July 12) Council meeting, Justice Munib tabled a comprehensive report in that regard. The Council members after examining the report resolved that the procedure of enquiry and amendments in the Code of Conduct needed to be examined from legal and drafting point of view therefore these required further deliberation.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
