ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court registrar has returned a petition filed last week by former Islamabad High Court judge Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui challenging his dismissal by the Supreme Judicial Council.

“..Constitutional petition is returned in original along with paper books being not entertainable on the following grounds:

a. That the petitioner has not approached any other appropriate forum available to him under the law for the same relief. He has also not provided any justification for not doing so.

b. That the certificate provided at page 30 of this constitution point does not fulfil the requirements of Order XXV Rule 6 of the Supreme Court Rules, 1980

c. That the petitioner is invoking extraordinary jurisdiction of the Supreme Court under Article 184(3) of the Constitution for the redressal of an individual grievance, which is not permissible in terms of judgment reported as 1998 SCMR 793 titled as Zulfiqar Mehdi Vs PIA etc,” reads a letter appended with the petition returned to Advocate on Record Ahmad Nawaz Chaudhry.

Mr Siddiqui, who was sacked last month as a senior puisne judge of the Islamabad High Court, had challenged his sacking in the Supreme Court.

President Arif Alvi had terminated services of Mr Siddiqui on Oct 11 after the Supreme Judicial Council found the then IHC judge guilty of misconduct over a speech he delivered in July at the Rawalpindi Bar Association. Mr Siddiqui, in his petition, contended that he had been sacked without a due process and without [the SJC] fulfilling legal prerequisites.

The sacked judge mentioned that no inquiry had been conducted into his remarks regarding alleged interference by the country’s premier spy agency in the judicial proceedings.

Mr Siddiqui also raised a number of questions on legality of the actions taken against him, saying he wanted to highlight additional grounds in support of his petition at the time of its hearing at the Supreme Court.

Published in Dawn, November 2nd, 2018