Disposes of 10 complaints against judges for want of evidence.

ISLAMABAD  -  The Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) has decided to widen consultation on the letter written by six Islamabad High Court (IHC) judges accusing the personnel of intelligence agencies of interfering in judicial affairs.

The SJC meeting was held with Chief Justice of Pakistan/Chairman SJC Yahya Afridi in the chair here on Friday.

Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Aamer Farooq, Chief Justice Islamabad High Court (IHC) and Justice Muhammad Hashim Kakar, Chief Justice High Court of Balochistan attended the meeting.

The Council discussed the agenda items regarding amendments in the code of conduct of judges under Article 209(8) of the Constitution and the letter of six IHC judges. The Council considered different options and modalities in this regard and decided to widen the consultation on the subject as the code applies to the heads of different institutions in addition to judges and decided to take up the matter in the next meeting once again.

The council also took up for consideration the issue of rule making of the Council and establishment of its Secretariat. It agreed to the proposal of the Registrar and decided that the rule making process of the Council should be undertaken and a draft should be placed before the council in the next meeting.

The Council authorized the Chairman to hire the services of a competent individual with proven ability to work as Secretary of the Council for a period of 3 months who would be tasked to assist the Council in conducting its meetings, oversee rule making exercise, and firm up infrastructure and human resource requirements of the Council’s secretariat.

The Council examined ten complaints against the Judges under Article 209 of the Constitution filed by different people and held that no substantial evidence has been produced by the complainants, therefore, the Council has dismissed those complaints.

The Council decided to hold regular meetings on monthly basis in future to clear the backlog on fast track. In case of frivolous complaints, action will be taken against the complainants in accordance with law.

Meanwhile, the JCP, in its second meeting chaired by the chief justice of Pakistan, to consider a single point agenda of formation of a Constitutional Bench within the Sindh High Court.

It was attended by Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail (via video  link); Justice Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui, Chief Justice High Court of Sindh, Azam Nazeer Tarar, Federal Minister for Law and Justice; Mansoor Usman Awan, Attorney-General for Pakistan; Senator Farooq Hamid Naek; Senator Syed Shibli Faraz; Sheikh Aftab Ahmad, Member of the National Assembly; Umar Ayub Khan, Member of the National Assembly; Roshan Khurshid Barucha, Zia ul Hassan Lanjar, Minister of law Government of Sindh and Qurban Ali Malano, member Sindh Bar Council. The Registrar of the Supreme Court also attended as Secretary to the Commission.

Following an extensive and thoughtful exchange of views, the Commission unanimously endorsed the proposal put forth by the Chief Justice of High Court of Sindh that all the existing Judges of the High Court are nominated to be the Judges of Constitutional Benches for expeditious disposal of the existing huge backlog of cases. This arrangement will remain effective until 24th November 2024. The matter will again be taken by Judicial Commission on 25th November.