The Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) on Saturday decided to forward reference against Justice Muhammad Afzal Soomro of Sindh High Court (SHC) to the President under Article 209 of the Constitution for taking further action, as he (Soomro) failed to clarify corruption and misconduct charges levelled against him.
The council had issued notices to Justice Muhammad Afzal Soomro of SHC and Justice Abdul Shakoor Paracha of Lahore High Court (LHC) on the allegations of misconduct/corruption in August as a first step towards eradication of corruption from the higher judiciary. On September 4, the SJC issued second notice to Justice Muhammad Afzal Soomro in a fresh reference for appearance before the council for alleged manipulation of Court record and giving judgement without hearing all the parties' counsels.
Meanwhile, Justice Abdul Shakoor Paracha resigned prior to the SJC proceedings. Despite repeated opportunities provided by the SJC to defend charges against him, Justice Muhammad Afzal did not appear before the council which led to forwarding of his case to the President. After the SJC meeting, Attorney General Sardar Latif Khosa told the media that a reference is only sent to the President under Article 209 when misconduct has been proved against a judge.
Justice Soomro had also served as the chief justice of the SHC but was demoted after he rejoined the SHC on May 15 on the expiry of one-year term as judge of the Federal Shariat Court (FSC) and after the elevation of Justice Agha Rafiq Ahmed Khan as chief justice of the FSC.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry headed the meeting which was attended by Justice Javed Iqbal and Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan, senior judges of the Supreme Court, Justice Tariq Pervez, Chief Justice of the Peshawar High Court, Justice Khawaja Muhammad Sharif, Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court, and Dr Faqir Hussain, Registrar Supreme Court of Pakistan/Secretary, Supreme Judicial Council.