ISLAMABAD: Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi of the highest court has asked three members of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) to be excused from hearing the misconduct complaints against him. The members are Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa, Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, and Naeem Akhtar Afghan. He has given two reasons, “bias” being one of them.
The SJC sent Justice Naqvi a “show-cause” notice on October 28, 2023. In his preliminary response, he complained about the three members of the body’s involvement, but he didn’t say anything about the complaints of misconduct against him.
In his defense, Justice Naqvi said that the charges against him were politically driven and not legal, proper, or open.
In his answer, he said, “The interests of justice, due process of law, and the requirements of natural justice dictate that Mr. Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, Mr. Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, and Mr. Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan shall not preside over or participate in any further proceedings of the SJC with regard to the so-called complaints against me.”
He also said that this kind of move would not be the first of its kind.
It was brought to the attention of Justice Naqvi that during the hearing of constitutional petitions challenging the reference against Justice Isa, concerns were made about having Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Masood on the bench.
“Neither learned judge agreed with the objections, and out of respect for the proceedings, they stepped down from their positions,” the judge wrote in his 18-page preliminary reply to the SJC.
As a matter of “propriety, justice, and fairness,” Justice Naqvi said, the three senior judges should not hear the charges against him.
“Their participation in the proceedings resulting in a show-cause notice being issued to me taints those proceedings, inter alia, with bias and makes all orders passed in such proceedings as being without lawful authority and of no legal effect,” he added.
In his answer, Justice Naqvi said that on March 4, 2020, CJP Isa spoke out against his appointment as a judge of the highest court as a member of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP).
“It was also reported that Mr Justice Qazi Faez Isa wrote a detailed dissenting note raising objections, inter alia, in respect of certain judgments of mine as a judge of the Lahore High Court, in particular the judgment in the case of late retired General [Pervez] Musharraf, wherein a full bench of the Lahore High Court presided by me set aside the judgment of the special tribunal, my income tax returns and my assets declaration,” it said.
There was a meeting of the commission on March 4, 2020, and the SC judge asked the JCP secretary to give him the minutes of that meeting. He also talked about CJP Isa’s opposing note.
Justice Naqvi says that the JCP secretary was reminded of his request on November 4 and November 6, 2023. On November 7, 2023, it was turned down.
The secretary told the Supreme Court judge that the JCP meetings were private, so the minutes of their meeting could not be given.
It is argued that not giving me information that has a clear and important impact on my case before the SJC is against my basic rights to a fair trial, due process, and access to information,” the judge said.
Further, Justice Naqvi wrote that it was “curious” that while it was said that the JCP proceedings were private and that the minutes of those proceedings could not be given to him, the public was told about the SJC proceedings and orders, “subjecting him to a media trial” and “causing serious prejudice” to him.
He went on to say that he had asked again for the minutes of the JCP meeting on March 4, 2020, as well as CJP Isa’s dissenting note. He wrote to the secretary, “Otherwise serious prejudice shall be caused to me.”
In his answer to the SJC, Justice Naqvi also said that on April 3, 2023, Justice Isa and Justice Masood wrote to Umar Ata Bandial, who was the CJP at the time and the head of the SJC, telling him to take action on the accusations against him right away.
“This letter was sent to me too.” In answer, on April 19, 2023, I said that the fact that the two honorable judges wanted to quickly handle the complaints against me without bringing up the complaints against other judges showed their bias, he said.
Justice Naqvi says that nine of the ten charges against him are based on the fact that he is said to have leaked audio recordings. He said that it had never been proven that those tape leaks were real.
“For the record, SRO 596(I)/2023, issued on May 19, 2023, under the Pakistan Commissions of Inquiry Act, 2017, says that the federal government set up an inquiry commission to look into the authenticity, correctness, and truthfulness of the alleged audio leaks.
The judge said that Justice Isa was put in charge of the review commission and that Justice Afghan, who is also a member of the SJC, was given a seat on the commission.
He wrote that on May 22, 2023, the commission, which was made up of Justice Isa, Justice Afghan, and Chief Justice of the Islamabad High Court Aamer Farooq, started its work.
“After that, on May 26, 2023, the Supreme Court of Pakistan issued an order stopping the SRO from working and putting an end to the inquiry commission’s work.” “The case is still being heard,” he said.
Just like the alleged audio leaks that were sent to the inquiry committee, Justice Naqvi said that the complaints against him before the SJC were also about the same things.
The judge said that Justice Masood had already said something bad about him and was therefore not allowed to hear the charges as a member of the SJC.
“First, letters dated April 3, 2023 and April 26, 2023, which were co-written by Mr. Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, show that he has already decided what he thinks about the matter,” he said.
Justice Naqvi went on to say that Justice Masood took three months and twenty-seven days to decide what to do about the complaints.
“According to news reports, on May 29, 2023, Mr. Justice Umar Ata Bandial, who was Chief Justice of Pakistan at the time and Chairman of the SJC, sent the charges to Mr. Justice Sardar Tariq Masood to get his opinion. But the opinion was given on September 25, 2023, to CJP Isa, who is currently the head of the SCJ, he said.
The Supreme Court judge made it clear that the opinion wasn’t sent to the head of the SCJ until Justice Umar Ata Bandial had stepped down as Chief Justice of Pakistan.
“It is clear from the order of events that the opinion was purposely put off until the SJC’s members had changed after Mr. Justice Umar Ata Bandial retired,” Justice Naqvi said.
“Further, the submission of the report was also leaked to the press and became a subject of press comment,” he said.
The judge said that Justice Masood had used insulting language against him and told everyone at Justice Irfan Saadat Khan’s oath-taking ceremony what the end of the SJC proceedings would be.
It’s interesting that no news source reported on Justice Naqvi’s claim that Justice Masood used offensive language against him; only rumors about it spread on social media.
When the SC judge replied, he also said that Justice Masood had also complained to the SJC about him.
Justice Naqvi said, “Because of these things, Mr. Justice Sardar Tariq Masood should not hear the complaints against me for the sake of propriety, justice, and fairness.”
