Two judges of the Supreme Court, Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, have written to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), urging the top judicial body to initiate proceedings on complaints of alleged “misconduct and financial impropriety” against their fellow apex court judge, Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi. The SJC is a body of judges empowered under Article 209 of the Constitution to hear cases of misconduct against top judges and hold them accountable. The constitutional body comprises of Chief Justice of Pakistan as its Chairman, two senior-most judges of the SC and the two most senior Chief Justices from the High Courts. Justice Isa and Justice Masood are both members of the SJC. In a letter on Monday addressed to the remaining three members of the SJC – Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Atta Bandial, Sindh High Court Chief Justice Ahmed Ali M Shaikh, and Lahore High Court Chief Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti – the two SC judges said that several complaints had been received, including from the Pakistan Bar Council, alleging misconduct and financial impropriety by Justice Naqvi.
Two complaints of misconduct had been filed against Supreme Court’s Justice Naqvi in the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC).
The first complaint was filed by Advocate Mian Dawood in February this year against Justice Naqvi seeking an inquiry into his assets. In the complaint, Dawood had accused the judge of “misconduct” and “amassing illegitimate assets”.
The second complaint was filed by the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC), the apex regularity body of lawyers, last month after audio leaks emerged purportedly featuring a conversation about the fixation of a case before a particular bench or judge with former Punjab chief minister Pervaiz Elahi.
The PBC in its complaint had maintained that the superior judiciary was already “under criticism” and the “audio leaks attributed to the respondent may have not pricked the conscience of the respondent judge but the Pakistan Bar Council has taken the matter with great concern for the sake of respect and dignity of the superior judiciary of Pakistan”.
It had urged the judicial accountability body to hold an inquiry and initiate “proper proceedings” on media reports of Justice Naqvi’s “assets worth crores of rupees”.
In the letter, the two SJC member noted that they had been waiting for the Chief Justice of Pakistan to take notice of the complaints and call a meeting of the judicial body over the matter. “Hon’ble Chief Justice [Umar Ata Bandial], we were waiting for you to convene a meeting of the Council to consider the complaint and to ascertain whether there is substance in the stated allegation we must exonerate the respondent judge and fully restore his honour or else submit our report in terms of the Constitution,” the two judges wrote in their letter. “To leave the respondent judge under a cloud of uncertainty undermines both his and the judiciary’s repute,” they further stated.
