Justice Iftikhar's Petition; Federation's Counsel Completes Arguments before SC Pakistan  
'Pakistan Times' Federal Bureau

ISLAMABAD: The Federation's counsel Malik Muhammad Qayyum Wednesday completed his arguments before the full court in support of his contention that the petition of Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was not maintainable.

The thrust of his arguments spread over three days was that the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) was a constitutional body and its proceedings could not be challenged in any court of law.

Malik Qayyum, referring to the SC judgement in Mian Shahbaz Sharif return and expulsion case, said individual grievance could not be brought before the top court under article 184 (3) of the constitution. So, Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry's petition could not be entertained in the light of that judgement.

Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry's counsel Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan began his arguments and was still arguing when the 13-judge bench headed by Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday adjourned the proceedings till Thursday.

The full court decided to also meet on Friday for hearing the case, though it had earlier announced it would hold four sessions every week.

Aitzaz Ahsan said the function of SJC was to give its opinion on a reference and it was not empowered to remove a judge and therefore there was no justification for holding its proceedings in camera.

The counsel contended that the petition was maintainable because the petitioner has not challenged SJC proceedings but the action of the referring authority in his petition being heard by the full court. He pointed out that SJC was a body that is supposed to give its opinion after examining a reference and it had no powers to remove a judge.

The counsel said the petitioner has raised various questions regarding submission of reference against him on March 9 which are:

Can a judge or Chief Justice of the Superior Court be suspended, restrained from functioning, sent on forced leave? Can an Acting Chief Justice be appointed in the presence of a Chief Justice?

Can a Supreme Judicial Council be constituted without a Chief Justice?

Can a Supreme Judicial Council be empowered to initiate proceedings against a Chief Justice?

Aitzaz Ahsan complained to the court that Lawyers of the petitioner were being threatened by anonymous callers and their telephones were being tapped.

Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday, who is heading the full court, told the counsel that there was an extraordinary situation and hoped that things would settle down in due course.

The bench includes 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.

Besides Justice Iftikhar, other petitioners include the Pakistan Bar Council, Supreme Bar Court Association, Adaliya Bachao Committee and Watan Party. More than thirty petitions have been filed under Article 184 (3) of the Constitution.

The Referring Authority, The Federation of Pakistan, Supreme Judicial Council, Registrar of the Supreme Court, Registrar of the Sindh High Court and Registrar of the Lahore High Court have been made respondents in most of the petitions.●