After govt Qazi isa-led commission also asks cJP not to be part of SC bench hearing petitions against judicial commission probing audio leaks
ISLAMABAD: The Justice Qazi Faez Isa-led Judicial Commission has also raised objection to chief justice Bandial’s inclusion in the five-member bench hearing petition against the Judicial Commission probing the audio leaks.
The Qazi Isa-led Commission has filed an application in the Supreme Court urging the chief justice to step aside from the five-member bench. The members of the Commission believe that the case involves the clash of interest of the chief justice and the CJP must not be part of the bench.
“It would not be appropriate for this SC bench to hear the petitions,” according to the JC’s reply submitted in the apex court ahead of the hearing on Wednesday.
Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial is the head of the five-member Supreme Court bench hearing the petitions. Other members of the bench are Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi and Justice Shahid Waheed. The bench resumed hearing on Wednesday.
Last week, the apex court stayed the proceedings of the judicial commission and also suspended the federal government’s notification about the formation of the commission.
A day earlier, the federal government filed a plea in the apex court citing “conflicts of interests” against three of the five-member larger bench constituted by CJP Bandial to hear petitions against the inquiry commission.
The government requested the Supreme Court to form a new bench to hear the petitions against the judicial commission.
The federal government had formed a three-member judicial commission headed by SC’s Justice Qazi Faez Isa — under Section 3 of the Pakistan Commissions of the Inquiry Act, 2017. The commission was tasked to probe the veracity of recent audio leaks and their impact on the independence of the judiciary.
