islamabad : May 26, 2023: The Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) on Friday cancelled notification of 3-member judicial inquiry commission constituted to probe audio leaks case.
The 5-mmeber bench led by Chief Justice of Pakistan (SCP) , Umar Atta Bandial, issued shirt order after day long hearing into the case.
Top court also stayed further proceedings in the case.
Earlier , Chief justice of Pakistan (CJP, Umar Atta Bandial on Friday observed that the government should not interfere into the administrative affairs of the Supreme Court and instead follow the constitution of Pakistan in letter and spirit.
CJP Bandial made these observations during the hearing the case challenging formation of the commission to probe the alleged audio leaks.
Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) chairman, Imran Khan, Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) president Zuberi and a few lawyers have challenged formation of the inquiry commission . Babar Awan, Imran Khan.s counsel, had piled a petition before the SCP for striking down the judicial commission formed by the government to probe audio leaks case.
On the outset of the hearing Attorney General of Pakistan, Mansoor Usman Awan, objected to inclusion of the Chief Justice of Pakistan in the bench hearing the case .On this CJP, issued a warning to AGP observing that the government should not meddle in administrative affairs of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
The government had formed a 3-member judicial commission headed by SCP’s senior judge, Faez Isa , to probe alleged audio leaks involving judges of SCP.
CJP addressed to the Attorney General of Pakistan (AJP) , Mansoor Usman Awan, and asked him to convey to his client (The federal government) not to meddle in administrative affairs of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Top judge of Pakistan also showed fury as to how the government formed a judicial commission to probe the alleged audio leaks involving judges of SCP without his consent. CJP observed that there had been a practice in the past that the government requests CJP to appoint a judge to head any judicial commission to be formed to probe any important case.
AGP defended the government decision to appoint top judge of SCP , Faez Isa, as head of the judicial commission to probe the audio/video leaks case and informed the apex court that there was no mention of consultation with CJP in the 2017 Act for formation of any judicial commission.
CJP on this noted that intentionally or unintentionally a bid was made to divide the senior judiciary.
AGP in response to harsh remarks of CJP pleaded that the case of consulting CJP for formation of a judicial commission could be resolved .
On this CJP addressed to AGP and asked him to go back and resolve the issue and then his court will help the government. CJP also remarked that the court respects AGP and the federal government.
Formation of commission
Under Section 3 of the Pakistan Commission of Inquiry Act 2017, the government, on May 20, appointed a high-powered judicial commission — headed by Supreme Court Senior Puisne Judge Justice Qazi Faez Isa along with Balochistan High Court Chief Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan and Islamabad High Court (IHC) CJ Aamer Farooq as members — to investigate the audio leaks involving former and sitting members of the judiciary. The commission has been tasked to complete the inquiry within 30 days.
Among the multiple audio leaks, the commission is also probing into the veracity of the alleged calls between former Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi and a sitting top court judge as well as another call between CM Elahi and a Supreme Court lawyer over the constitution of an apex court bench.
Subsequently, PTI chief questioned the government for the “deliberate omission” of the terms of reference (TORs) and challenged the formation of the three-member judicial commission on audio leaks.
Babar Awan, Khan’s lawyer and party leader, had filed the plea on his behalf requesting the court to declare the notification for constituting the commission null and void.
Similarly, Zubairi had also challenged the audio leaks commission to summon directing him to appear before the panel in connection with the inquiry.
Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar earlier said that the government did not consult CJP Bandial before forming the commission.
The judicial panel was constituted in the wake of widely circulated controversial audio leaks which raised “serious apprehensions about the independence, impartiality and uprightness of the Chief Justices/Judges of the Superior Courts in the administration of justice”.
Meanwhile, the commission has also summoned four people connected with the alleged audios including Zubairi, Advocate Khawaja Tariq Rahim, journalist Abdul Qayyum Siddiqui and son of former CJP Saqib Nisar, Najam Saqib, today.
Earlier this week, the Justice Isa-led commission announced that the proceedings of its inquiry will be made public as it held its first hearing earlier this week on Monday in courtroom number 7 of the Supreme Cour
