SC receives IHC recommendations over alleged meddling in judicial affairs
Pakistan
SC receives IHC recommendations over alleged meddling in judicial affairs
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – The Islamabad High Court has forwarded its recommendations to the Supreme Court, following a full-court meeting prompted by advice from the apex court, which came after complaints of alleged intervention of intelligence agencies in legal affairs by six judges of the high court.
The IHC judges unanimously proposed that in the event of any interference, all civil, session and high court judges should report to their respective senior judges.
The recommendations stipulate that all judges must report interference within seven days, with failure to do so resulting in the judge being deemed guilty of misconduct.
Regarding instances of interference, the recommendations detail that a civil judge is required to report to the session judge, who will then inform the high court inspection judge. Subsequently, the inspection judge will escalate the matter to the chief justice of the high court.
The judges proposed that the high court administrative committee should make the final decision on whether to consider the matter administratively or judicially.
It is stated in the recommendations that the administrative committee can also refer the matter to the full court considering the seriousness of the issue, and ultimately, the high court can exercise its own discretion to deal with contempt of court in accordance with institutional agreements.
On March 25, six judges of the Islamabad High Court wrote a letter to the Supreme Judicial Council regarding ‘interference of intelligence agencies in judicial matters’.
These judges included Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani, Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Justice Babar Sattar, Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan, Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir and Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz.
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court took suo motu notice and hinted at constituting a full court to hear the matter. Before that, the federal government set up a one-man inquiry commission which could not initiate any proceeding due to refusal of its head, former chief justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani.
Following this, Chief Justice Isa sought input from all IHC judges regarding the necessity of convening a full court on this significant issue.
Last week, IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq convened a meeting of all IHC judges, where they collectively drafted recommendations.
