Justice Isa’s wife: SC urged to delete ‘parts’ of judgement relating to sending matter to FBR

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has been urged to delete the “parts of the judgement” relating to sending the matter to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to investigate the tax record of Justice Qazi Faiz Isa’s wife Sarina Isa and her daughter and son.

Abid Hassan Minto, on Saturday, filed a written submission in the review petitions of Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Bar Councils and Associations against the apex court’s judgement on Presidential Reference.

The short order passed by seven honorable judges prescribes very specific timelines as to how the FBR and Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) are to proceed in the matter. A 10-member larger bench, headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial, and comprising Justice Maqbool Baqar, Justice Manzoor Ahmed Malik, Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel, Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed, and Justice Aminud Din Khan will resume hearing of review petitions of Justice Qazi Faez Isa, the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC), and the provincial bar councils and associations, and the petition of Sarina Isa against the apex court judgment on Presidential Reference from tomorrow (Monday).

Minto stated that the parts relating to sending the matter to the FBR and the SJC be deleted as not having a backing in law.

In consequence, it may also be kindly declared that the so-called report of the FBR is without lawful authority and liable to be quashed.

The petitioner contended: “Having quashed the reference and having held that the proceedings before the SJC abated, the Court could not have issued directions to the FBR as it did. These directions essentially ordered the FBR to become a source for a fresh reference or complaint in terms of Article 209(5). Even assuming that the Court could have sent the matter to the FBR, it was for the federal government to decide whether the findings of the FBR contained material that should be referred to the SJC and if it found that it did, then the matter could only have been sent to the SJC through the President and not directly.

“If a matter is to go to the SJC from a government or any department thereof, it must go to the SJC through the president and cannot be sent directly to the SJC on the orders of this Court. The directions of the Court in the judgment in this regard are in patent error and are therefore liable to be deleted.

The part of the judgment ordering the FBR to send the matter to the SJC without hearing the part of the case regarding the undersigned’s contention about the functioning of the SJC is against natural justice and an error patent on the record. It is liable to be deleted.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021