ISLAMABAD—On Monday, Supreme Court (SC) Judge Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi fought back against the Supreme Judicial Council’s (SJC) misconduct case against him, calling the accusations “false and baseless.”
The case against Justice Naqvi has been asked to be dropped because the charges are “without lawful authority and of no legal effect.”
After tape leaks earlier this year, the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) told Justice Naqvi on March 10 that he had broken the rules. According to the audio leaks, the former Punjab chief minister Pervaiz Elahi talked about getting the case set up in front of a certain court or bench.
Two different audio clips were shared on the internet in February of this year. On the first audio clip, a man who claimed to be Elahi could be heard saying “Joja sahab” that the “Muhammad Khan case” should be given to the SC judge.
Justice Naqvi challenged the SJC under Article 184(3) of the Constitution. He said that since February 16, a wicked campaign had been going on against him and that he had been put on trial in the media.
The petition said that sending out a press statement without the justice’s permission not only violated his basic rights but also put him in the middle of a media trial, which made people think less of him.
In his petition, Justice Naqvi said that this “malicious campaign and the complaints are a direct and blatant attack on the independence of the judiciary.”
Referring to the case Justice Qazi Isa v. President of Pakistan, the Supreme Court said that all citizens, no matter their status or position, have the right to due process of law under Articles 4 and 9 to 28. The highest court judge said that the way the proceedings began by sending out a show cause notice on October 28 “is against and goes against the Fundamental Rights guaranteed to him by the Constitution.”
In his preliminary response to a show-cause notice on October 28, Justice Naqvi asked to be excused and said he didn’t agree with the participation of three SJC members: Justice Isa, Justice Masood, and Balochistan High Court Chief Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan. He didn’t say anything about the complaints of misconduct against him, though.
The petition that was turned in today said that the “show cause” notice goes against the highest court’s decisions and that the hearing notice being sent out on November 11 without first looking into the legal and constitutional issues was against Article 209 and the SJC’s Procedure of Enquiry.
The SJC is a constitutional body made up of the chief justice, two senior Supreme Court judges, and two senior high court chief justices. Its job is to look into claims of wrongdoing by Supreme and High Court judges.
There have been complaints against two Supreme Court judges, Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi and Justice Sardar Tariq Masood. The SJC will meet today to look into these complaints.
