ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court postponed the hearing of a set of review petitions against the June 19 short order on the presidential reference against Justice Qazi Faez Isa after four bar associations suggested on Wednesday that the case be heard by the 10-judge full court instead of a seven-judge bench.

The full court had heard and decided constitutional petitions against the filing of the reference during the first round of hearing.

The seven-judge larger bench decided to adjourn the matter to the week commencing on Nov 16 after it was informed about a request by Advocate on Record (AoR) Rifaqat Hussain Shah through a one-page application moved by four premier bar associations — the Supreme Court Bar Association, the Quetta Bar Association, the Punjab Bar Council and the Balochistan Bar Council.

The associations requested the bench to postpone Wednesday’s proceedings and place the matter before Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed with a suggestion to form a larger bench consisting of all the judges who heard the constitutional petitions against filing of the reference.

Justice Umar Ata Bandial, who presided over the larger bench, observed that the bench wanted to hear the review petitions before Justice Faisal Arab, who was a member of the 10-judge bench, reached superannuation age on Nov 4.

Justice Bandial explained that composition of the bench would change after the retirement of Justice Arab when the AoR stated the petitioners would need two weeks to amend the review petitions.

The seven-judge larger bench, which was due to take up a set of eight review petitions against the June 19 short order, consisted of Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Manzoor Ahmed Malik, Justice Faisal Arab, Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel, Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, Justice Muneeb Akhtar and Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin.

The petitions seeking a review of paragraphs 3 to 11 were filed by Justice Qazi Faez Isa himself, his wife Sarina Isa, the Sindh High Court Bar Association, the Supreme Court Bar Association, Quetta Bar Association President Muhammad Asif Reki, Punjab Bar Council Vice Chairman Shahnawaz Ismail, senior advocate Abid Hassan Minto and the Pakistan Bar Council.

The petitioners argued that the directives and observations contained in paragraphs 3 to 11 of the June 19 order were “unnecessary, superfluous, contradictory, excessive and unlawful”, making them liable to be deleted since it constituted an “error apparent on the face of record”.

Although the majority order by seven judges, through paragraphs 3 to 11 in the short order, quashed the reference, it ordered the FBR chairman to furnish a report under his signature to the Supreme Judicial Council’s (SJC) secretary containing details of proceedings conducted by the commissioner of inland revenue after seeking an explanation from the wife and children of Justice Isa about the nature and source of funds they used to buy three properties in the United Kingdom.

On the receipt of the report, the SJC may decide to initiate any action for the purposes of Article 209 of the Constitution in its suo motu jurisdiction, the judgement had explained.

Through paragraphs 13 and 14, Justice Maqbool Baqar, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Yahya Afridi quashed the presidential reference against Justice Isa. Consequently, the proceedings and the show cause notice issued by the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) against Justice Isa stand suspended.

Published in Dawn, October 29th, 2020