ISLAMABAD - The Judicial Commission of Pakistan on Thursday recommended Justice Athar Minallah as the new chief justice of Islamabad High Court.
A meeting of the JCP was held with Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar in the chair wherein the commission approved Justice Minallah as the new IHC CJ.
Justice Minallah, who recently suspended the conviction of deposed Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and his son-in-law Muhmmad Safdar in Avenfied Reference, belongs to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Meanwhile, Supreme Court has refused to entertain former Islamabad High Court judge Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui petition seeking setting aside of President’s notification of his removal from the post of judge.
The top court’s raised objection on Siddiqui’s application stating that the petitioner has not availed available forum.
“The petitioner has not approached any other appropriate forum available to him under the law for the same relief. He has also not provided any justification for not doing so,” the objections said.
“The certificate provided at page 30 of this Constitution Petition does not fulfill the requirements of Order XXV Rue 6 of the Supreme Court Rules, 1980,” it further stated.
“The petitioner is invoking extraordinary jurisdiction on the Supreme Court under Article 184(3) of the Constitution for redressal of an individual grievance, which is not permissible in terms of judgment reported as 1998 SCMR 793 titled as Zulfiqar Mehdi Vs. PIA, etc,” the objections further stated.
He had requested the top court to set aside the recommendation and subsequent notification of the President issued on October 11 as being void, illegal and unconstitutional.
He said the SJC’s opinion and the subsequent notification of his removal was mala fide, coram non judice, against the established norms of natural justice, being made in undue haste and devoid of any merits.
The petition filed by Advocate Hamid Khan on behalf of Siddiqui submitted that it is not matter of individual judge but independence of the whole institution which is no more secure after the SJC’s recommendation, adding the bias of Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar and Senior Puisine Judge Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, who expressed their views are apparent, on the face of record.
Siddiqui stated that the members of SJC seem to have concluded that he was lying with respect to the matters set out in his speech, despite not allowing for any evidentiary proceedings to determine this matter.
It stated that as admitted in Paragraph 20 of the Impugned Order, in response to Siddiqui speech, the Chief Justice of Pakistan clarified in open court that the “Judiciary was absolutely independent of any extraneous influence and was not under any siege or institutional capture.
It added that contrary to claims in the Impugned Order, making such statements on matters sub-judice and without the aid of any inquiry or proper investigation erodes the credibility of the Chief Justice and hence also the judiciary.
It is submitted that it is well known fact that chief justice of Pakistan had expressed his bias openly and publically which disqualified him from hearing the complaint against the petitioner.
The petition stated that Siddiqui was discriminated against for making a public speech while the worthy Chairman SJC Mian Saqib Nisar went on making speeches, addressing bar councils, attending conventions and meeting members of the armed forces including the chief of army staff, chief of air staff and even declaring that whole judiciary was incompetent.