ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) could hear a case against a superior court judge in an open court, if judge on trial waives his right for in-camera proceedings.
A five-member Supreme Court bench comprising Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed, Justice Mushir Alam, Justice Maqbool Baqar, Justice Sardar Tariq Masood and Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel, ruled that the SJC, for other reasons, may still decide to hold proceedings in-camera even if the accused waives the right. The bench gave this ruling while disposing of two identical petitions filed by Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of the Islamabad High Court and Justice Muhammad Farrukh Irfan Khan of the Lahore High Court, seeking trial of references of misconduct against them by the SJC in the open court instead of in-camera. The court also asked the SJC to hear the requests by the petitioners again and decide on them in light of the new observations made in the ruling. The verdict authored by Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed noted that SJC is a “unique forum created by the constitution” as it is not a court, rather a domestic disciplinary tribunal “whose proceedings are administrative in nature and recommendatory in effect”.
The verdict states that the SJC proceedings will have two parts – the initial hearing regarding the probe will be in-camera, while the second part will be open for public or in-camera as per wishes of the judges facing the trial. In their petitions, both the judges had requested the apex court to direct the SJC to conduct their trial in the open court, as an in-camera trial might stigmatise their reputation.
“Even though a judge is exonerated by the SJC but the proceeding was not open, it will create an impression among the minds of the people that the judge was absolved of charges in consideration of some deal,” Hamid Khan and Muneer A Malik, senior counsels for the petitioner had argued before the apex court, while seeking open court trial by the SJC against their clients. The SJC headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) had turned down the requests of open trial of both the judges. Later, the judges had challenged the SJC order through a constitutional petition before the apex court. The SJC consists of chief justice of Pakistan, the two next most senior judges of the Supreme Court and the two most senior chief justices of high courts.
Published in Daily Times, May 11th 2018.
