The letter of another Supreme Court judge and a member of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP), Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, was publicised and was actually written to Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial.
However, the leaked letters of two SC judges stirred controversy regarding the elevation of judges.
Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, a member of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP), told in his letter that he opposed the names of judges nominated by the CJP Bandial for their elevation. He also mentioned the names of the judges who were nominated by him.
The letter was published regarding the developments of the JCP meeting which went viral on social media. Just like the letter of JCP member Justice Sardar Tariq Masood was published, a letter was allegedly written by another Supreme Court (SC) judge, Justice Qazi Faez Isa was made viral on social media.
Justice Isa’s letter
A JCP member Justice Qazi Faez Isa’s letter was publicised which was written to all members of the commission. Justice Isa attended the session via video link from Spain.
Justice Isa disputed the facts, mentioned in the SC statement. The letter stated: “After a detailed discussion, the majority of the Hon’ble Members of the JCP, that is the Hon’ble Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, Hon’ble Law Minister Mr Azam Nazeer Tarar, Hon’ble Attorney General Mr Ashtar Ausaf Ali, representative of the Pakistan Bar Council the Hon’ble Mr Akhtar Hussain and myself decided to reject the nominations of the three junior judges of the Sindh High Court and one junior judge of the Lahore High Court.”
JCP declaration
The SC spokesperson issued a statement regarding the JCP meeting presided over by the CJP Umar Ata Bandial that the session has been adjourned due to the lack of consensus on names suggested by the chief justice.
According to the declaration, the AGP also backed the decision to postpone the JCP meeting, whereas, overall five members including Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice (Retd) Sarmad Jalal Osmany also voted in favour of adjourning the session.
JCP audio recording
In another development yesterday, the top court made the audio recording of the JCP proceedings public which was uploaded on the SC website.
It read, “The version issued by the Public Relations Officer of the Supreme Court of Pakistan (“SCP”) under the instructions of Hon’ble Chief Justice of Pakistan/Chairman, Judicial Commission of Pakistan (“JCP”) has been disputed by two Hon’ble Judges of the SCP, namely, Mr. Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Mr. Justice Sardar Tariq Masood.”
“A resulting controversy has therefore arisen in the print and electronic media. In these exceptional circumstances the Hon’ble Chairman JCP has been pleased to relax the restriction under Rule 5(4) of the JCP Rules, 2010 and has directed for the audio recording of the JCP proceedings of 28.07.2022 to be made available on the official website.”
“The audio recording from time slot 1:29:45 to 1:38:08 contains the statement by the worthy Attorney General for Pakistan that the matters under discussion should be deferred to frame the appropriate rules. He did not assess or reject the merits of any of the High Court Judges proposed for appointment to the SCP. As a result, 5 members of the JCP supported the deferment of the meeting,” it concluded.
Questions over controversy
The developments arose questions about the responsible persons who leaked the letters of the top court’s judges as they were internal letters that had been sent to the chief justice by two judges who opposed the top judge over his five nominees during the JCP proceedings.
It also raised questions about the silence of Justice (Retd) Sarmad Jalal Osmany, Federal Law Minister and Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) who did not follow the footsteps of the two judges.
The AGP and Federal Law Minister could have given statements on the media to clarify the situation during the JCP session chaired by the CJP and other judges, said legal experts.
They said that the retired judge of the top court, Justice (Retd) Sarmad Jalal Osmany could also have stepped in to give a media statement, however, he and other members kept silent when the sitting SC judges were issuing letters regarding the JCP internal happenings.