ISLAMABAD: Former Islamabad High Court (IHC) judge Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui on Thursday instituted a fresh application before the Supreme Court, seeking fixation of his appeal on June 7, the hearing of which was adjourned on Wednesday without the next hearing date.

The single-page application by Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui pleaded before the SC that the matter was of great public importance and therefore required an earlier adjudication by the court.

On Wednesday, a five-judge bench, headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial, which was hearing the appeal of Justice Siddiqui against an Oct 11, 2018 notification under which he was removed, had postponed further proceedings without announcing the next date.

Senior counsel Hamid Khan is pleading the case of Justice Siddiqui.

Usually, non-fixation of a date for next hearing never bothered petitioners but in this case the situation is of significance since the petitioner’s date of retirement, if he was still serving as judge of the high court, is June 30.

The fresh application stated that the matter was of great urgency since the petitioner’s several legal and constitutional rights were involved.

“The petitioner seeks indulgence of this Hon’ble Court for the early fixation of the titled petition in the interest of justice,” the application said with a request that the case be fixed for June 7.

Ex-judge Siddiqui was removed from office on the recommendation of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) under Article 209 of the Constitution for displaying conduct “unbecoming of a judge” by delivering a speech on July 21, 2018, at the District Bar Association Rawalpindi.

In his speech, the former judge had made remarks against the involvement of certain officers of the executive organ of the state - specifically ISI - in the affairs of the judiciary and alleged that they manipulated formation of benches of the high court.

Published in Dawn, June 4th, 2021