Justice Isa hates feeling excluded from important matters.
Despite his status as CJP Bandial’s predecessor, he claims he is not consulted on bench composition.
ISLAMABAD: Senior puisne judge of the Supreme Court Justice Qazi Faez Isa, who is notified as chief justice of Pakistan effective September 17, has complained that current CJP Umar Ata Bandial does not consult with him in the composition of benches or other crucial affairs of the apex court, despite the fact that he was his predecessor.
Publicly available is Justice Isa’s letter, which he read at the outset of hearings on constitutional petitions challenging the prosecution of civilians in military courts under the Army Act.
During the hearing, he only read out two of the three paragraphs in which he complained that CJP Bandial had never contacted him or the other senior judge, Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, on the composition of benches or any other significant matters.
Throughout the current CJP’s term, tensions between the designate and the incumbent have persisted. During last year’s Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) meeting on the appointment of SC judges, there were a few heated exchanges between them.
According to Justice Isa’s comment, there is established practice at the highest court level of consulting with senior judges before making decisions about bench makeup and other similarly important matters.
Former Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed also routinely consulted with senior puisne judge Justice Umar Ata Bandial, and frequently included him on the court for high-profile cases.
Justice Isa, however, claims that after becoming chief justice, Justice Bandial abandoned this practice and stopped consulting with him and Justice Masood.
He (CJP Bandial) arbitrarily directed judicial cases or delegated authority to cronies.
During the current CJP Bandial’s tenure, Justice Isa noted, no full court meeting was called.
The Supreme Court justice also cast doubt on the constitutionality of internment camps for more than three years, as the case had been fixed.
He noted that the Supreme Court’s suspension of the Peshawar High Court’s order declaring the 2019 Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Action (in Aid of Civil Power) Ordinance to be unconstitutional and designating all internment centers as sub-jails on October 24 relates to 26 cases of a similar nature.
On December 4th, 2019, the last hearing was held. The federal administration lead by ex-prime minister Imran Khan filed the appeal against the PHC ruling, which is an interesting twist.
Justice Isa felt that once the case has started being heard, a decision should be made quickly. However, these 26 cases have not been scheduled for hearing in almost three years.
It has been learned that the note written by Justice Isa was promptly withdrawn from the Supreme Court’s website.
