SC Pakistan Resumes Hearing of CJP’s Petition Today  
'Pakistan Times' Special Correspondent

ISLAMABAD: A 13-member full court bench of the Supreme Court will resume today, Monday the hearing of constitutional petitions filed by Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and others regarding the Presidential Reference.

The bench has decided to hold the hearing four days a week, from Monday to Thursday, with the concurrence of counsels of the petitioners and the respondents.

During the proceedings Thursday, Malik Muhammad Qayyum, counsel of the Federation argued that the petition of Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry challenging the reference and the composition and competence of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) was not maintainable.

He said the SJC was a superior constitutional body and it also issues code of conduct for all judges including judges of the Supreme Court. Therefore it could not be considered inferior to Supreme Court, he said.

The full court comprises Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday, Justice Muhammad Nawaz Abbasi, Justice Faqir Muhammad Khokhar, Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, Justice M. Javed Buttar, Justice Tassadduque Hussain Jillani, Justice Saiyed Saeed Ashhad, Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk, Justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmed, Justice Ch.Ijaz Ahmed, Justice Syed Jamshed Ali, Ad-hoc Justice Ghulam Rabbani and ad-hoc Justice Hamid Ali Mirza.

Malik Qayyum contended that under Article 211 of the Constitution the petition of Justice Chaudhry was not maintainable.

The Article provides blanket cover and does not permit any challenge of proceedings and report of the SJC, he said.

He said composition of the SJC is constitutional and it is a permanent body and all its functions are constitutional.

Referring to the petitions filed by Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who was restrained by the SJC from functioning as Chief Justice and as a judge of the Supreme Court, Malik Qayyum said that petitions can only be filed under Article 184 (3) of the Constitution if a question of public importance is involved.

The counsel recalled references filed in the past against judges in the country and also referred to process of accountability of judges in other countries.

Malik Qayyum said that under the Constitution a person who is chief justice is also a judge.

Members of the bench raised a number of questions about the powers of the SJC and its constitutional status and proceedings.

The bench admired the counsels of both sides for keeping smooth the proceedings in the case.

Giving arguments on the issue of jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to hear the petitions, Ahmed Raza Kasuri, who is representing the Federation in one petition, said the SJC is a court of law.

The composition, powers and proceedings of the Council cannot be challenged in any court of law, which covers the top court, the counsel said.

Hence the petitions filed by Justice Chaudhry and others challenging the composition and proceedings of the SJC are not maintainable, he contended.

Besides Justice Chaudhry, other petitioners include the Pakistan Bar Council, Supreme Court Bar Association, Adaliya Bachao Committee and Watan Party.

The Referring Authority, the Federation, SJC, Registrar of the Supreme Court and Registrars of the Sindh High Court and Lahore High Court have been made respondents in most of the petitions.

Attorney General Makhdoom Ali Khan appeared before the court on notice.

Sharif-ud-Din Pirzada, Malik Muhammad Qayyum, Maqbool Elahi Malik, Raja Ibrahim Satti and Ahmed Raza Kasuri, besides Rai Muhammad Nawaz Kharal and others, represented the Referring Authority and the Federation.

Advocate General Punjab Ch.Aftab Iqbal represented the Lahore High Court. Chudhry Aitzaz Ahsan, Hamid Khan, Tariq Mehmood, Ahmed Owais, Rashid Rizvi, Barrister Dr.Farooq Hassan and Barrister Zafarullah Khan appeared as counsels of the petitioners.

Syed Iftikhar Hussain Gillani made a request to the full court to club with the other petitions an identical petition filed by National Assembly's former speaker Fakhr Imam and others, which is pending due to objections raised by the office of the Supreme Court.

Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday directed Syed Iftikhar Hussain Gillani to file an appeal against the objections, which will be heard in chamber as per rules.●