We won’t interfere in high court affairs: CJP

F.P. Report

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa on Tuesday said they would not interfere in the matters related to the high court as the practice in the past didn’t produce good consequences. “Can a chief justice phone a subordinate judge to order that the verdict should be passed in such a manner?” he asked during the hearing of a suo moto case related to a letter written by the six justices of Islamabad High Court (IHC).

The IHC judges’ letter case is being heard by a six-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Isa and comprising Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel, Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Musarrat Hilali and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan. After the culmination of Tuesday’s proceedings, the six-member bench adjourned the hearing till May 7 and asked the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) and others to submit their replies containing suggestions on the subject.

“We appoint a ‘monitoring judge’. It is also interference,” the chief justice remarked during the hearing – a reference to Justice Ijazul Ahsan who severed in the same capacity in the Panama Papers cases filed against then prime minister Nawaz Sharif. It seemed that [some] people wanted to promote their thinking instead of independence of judiciary, the chief justice observed as Attorney General Usman Mansoor Awan presented his arguments while representing the government being the country’s chief law officer.

The chief justice also recalled that he was the first individual to name someone for interference by mentioning Lt-Gen (retd) Faiz Hameed in the Faizabad sit-in case. One the other hand, Justice Shah observed that one had to determine what action was to be taken against the one interfering in the court affairs. Calling for erecting a firewall to stop the practice, Justice Shah said they had to sit together for finding a solution. During the hearing, the attorney general was of the view that the IHC judges had all the powers required to check the alleged interference, including contempt of court.