Reference against Justice Qazi Faez Isa dismissed

Another constitutional petition was filed with the Supreme Court challenging the Supreme Judicial Council’s (SJC) misconduct proceedings against Justice Qazi Faez Isa.

The petitioners, senior lawyer Abid Hassan Minto and veteran journalist IA Rahman, maintained that the SJC secretary taking up the presidential references out of turn was an arbitrary and mala fides exercise of power and in violation of Articles 25 and 10A of the Constitution.

Consequently, they added, the proceedings initiated by the SJC secretary in the presidential references, as well as the private reference filed against Justice Isa.

“Neither the Constitution nor the procedure state any preference or priority for a matter referred by the president as opposed to information received from other sources,” the petition read.

Justice Qazi Faez Isa approached the Supreme Court on August 07 to challenge the presidential reference against him.

He has asked the court to halt the proceedings in the Supreme Judicial Council till a verdict is given on his petition.

He has also challenged the show-cause notice issued to him for writing a letter to the president asking him about the reference against him.

“However, even if it is accepted, without conceding, that some priority is attached to a matter received from the president, the SJC registrar by taking up a private reference and proceeding with it in great haste has acted in mala fides.”

The petitioners argued that no information was available in the public domain regarding the number of references, if any, pending against the present members of the SJC.