<\/p>\n
The Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) on Thursday directed Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, who is facing allegations of misconduct, to submit his reply to the show-cause notice issued to him by Jan 1.<\/p>\n
Headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, the SJC comprises Justice Tariq Masood, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Lahore High Court Chief Justice (CJ) Muhammad Ameer Bhatti, and Balochistan High Court (BHC) CJ Naeem Akhtar.<\/p>\n
It issued the directives as it conducted open proceedings of Justice Naqvi\u2019s case after he filed an application seeking the same.<\/p>\n
On October 27, the SJC had issued<\/a> a show-cause notice to Justice Naqvi in connection with 10 complaints lodged against him and directed the judge to submit a reply within two weeks.<\/p>\n In a preliminary reply submitted<\/a> on November 10, Justice Naqvi had cited \u201cserious prejudice\u201d against him and said CJP Isa, Justice Masood, and CJ Akhtar should recuse themselves and not hear the matter.<\/p>\n On Nov 20, Justice Naqvi had contested<\/a> the SJC proceedings against him and also challenged the show-cause notice issued to him by the council, stating the initiation of proceedings was coram non-judice and without lawful authority.<\/p>\n Subsequently, the SJC had issued<\/a> a fresh show-cause notice to Justice Naqvi, with a direction to come up with his defence by filing a reply within a fortnight.<\/p>\n On December 4, Justice Naqvi had again approached the apex court and expressed his intent<\/a> to pursue the constitutional petition he had moved earlier seeking to quash the revised show-cause notice issued by the SJC.<\/p>\n On Dec 6, Justice Naqvi had invited the attention<\/a> of the SC committee comprising three senior-most judges to the silence over his petitions challenging the issuance of the show-cause notice (SCN) despite the lapse of time as stipulated in the Supreme Court (Practice & Procedure) Act, 2023.<\/p>\n Justice Naqvi also wrote a separate letter to the SJC secretary, asking the latter to furnish several documents without which, the judge said, he would not be in a position to prepare his reply to the show-cause notice within time.<\/p>\n In an open letter<\/a> to the chief justice and all top court judges on Dec 12, Justice Naqvi had stated that the treatment offered to him by the SJC was \u201cnothing short of disgraceful\u201d.<\/p>\n At the outset of the proceedings, CJP Isa noted that Justice Naqvi had filed an application through his counsel Advocate Khawaja Harris requesting open proceedings.<\/p>\n \u201cAccording to the rules, an in-camera hearing is conducted to protect the judge,\u201d he remarked. \u201cJustice Naqvi himself requested to open proceedings which was accepted,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n When Justice Naqvi\u2019s counsel came to the rostrum, CJP Isa asked Harris if a reply to the show-cause notice was being submitted today.<\/p>\n \u201cJustice Naqvi has not submitted his reply to the show-cause notice,\u201d he replied. He said that despite repeated requests, the SJC\u2019s record was not provided to Justice Naqvi.<\/p>\n At this, CJP Isa remarked that the SJC could not compel someone to submit a reply. However, Harris argued that conditions could not be imposed on submitting a reply.<\/p>\n \u201c[We have] submitted repeated requests to the council. We require information to submit a reply,\u201d he said, adding that the council did not respond to any of their requests.<\/p>\n \u201cThe SJC is a separate constitutional body. You asked for open proceedings and we complied. Now don\u2019t say you submitted numerous requests. Tell us what you need and we will give it. Tell us which documents you need,\u201d CJP Isa remarked.<\/p>\n Advocate Harris said that he wasn\u2019t provided with ex-CJP Umar Ata Bandial\u2019s note and Justice Masood\u2019s opinion on the matter. CJP Isa then directed the SJC secretary to hand over the file to the lawyer, who then proceeded to read out loud the ex-CJP\u2019s note.<\/p>\n Harris contended that the note in question only asked for an opinion on the complaint against Justice Naqvi. \u201cI am reading what I am being told to read,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n At the CJP Isa said: \u201cDon\u2019t say that you are being told to read this. We believe in transparency. You wanted everything to be open and we complied. Now read everything openly. It is not right to say we are making you read.<\/p>\n \u201cThe SJC just has one file that was given to you. Now read whatever you want,\u201d he remarked.<\/p>\n At one point, Harris questioned how Justice Masood could give his legal opinion on Justice Naqvi when he himself was facing complaints. At this, CJP Isa reminded him to stick to the issue at hand.<\/p>\n \u201cI want the record\u2019s copy so I can respond to the show cause notice,\u201d Harris said. However, CJP Isa said that the council would decide whether or not to provide him with a copy.<\/p>\n He further said, \u201cYour letters are up on social media before they reach us. If that is the case, then everything will go up on social media.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou blamed our secretary for leaking the letter. When we asked our secretary, she said she didn\u2019t even know media representatives,\u201d he said, adding that Harris could be shown the record right now.<\/p>\n \u201cBy showing me the record you are forcing me to say whatever you want. Seems like the SJC has already made its decision,\u201d the lawyer said.<\/p>\n He added that Justice Naqvi\u2019s petition was fixed for tomorrow, urging the council to grant his client his constitutional rights.<\/p>\n At one point, the proceedings were paused for a five-minute break. When the council returned, it directed Justice Naqvi to submit his reply to the show-cause notice by January and to also submit a list of witnesses.<\/p>\n However, Harris interjected and said that the SJC could not become the prosecutor. \u201cWitnesses are not to be called by the SJC but the attorney general,\u201d he contended. He further said that there was no concept of \u201ccomplainants\u201d in the SJC rules and it could only be provided information.<\/p>\n The SJC then directed the attorney general to provide the list of witnesses, and further proceedings were adjourned till January 11.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) on Thursday directed Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, who is facing allegations of misconduct, to submit his reply to the show-cause notice issued to him by Jan 1. Headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, the SJC comprises Justice Tariq Masood, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Lahore High […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35433,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/large\/2023\/12\/1418305574569e5.png?r=183140","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[192],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-islamabad-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35432\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Open proceedings<\/h2>\n