ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) president has said that as the law stands the Court or the chief justice of Pakistan has no discretion as far as the number of judges of the review bench is concerned because the judgment/order of the majority is the judgment/order of the Court.

The SCBA President, Latif Afridi, on Tuesday, submitted his written arguments regarding the composition of the bench that will hear review petitions of Justice Qazi Faez Isa and others against the SC judgment against the Presidential Reference.

In a 14-page submission, Latif Afridi wrote that chief justice of Pakistan does not have much discretion when the same judges are physically available and practice of the court is no different.

However, if after reasonable efforts the presence of a judge/judges of the original bench cannot be ensured then exceptionally other judges could be made part of the review bench.

"Circumstances of every case might differ. However, in the present case all the judges are available except one judge (Justice Faisal Arab) who retired in November 2020."

The SCBA president stated that the discretion must be exercised in favour of the interpretation that enhances the good perception of the justice system in the eyes of the nation and the legal community.

The court is strictly bound to apply law and has no discretion whatsoever and completely disregards the perception. The court should certainly be mindful of the fact that if it can improve or avoid damaging the perception of justice in public through its decision then it should especially in matters where it has a choice and not where strict application of law is required.

Latif Afridi stated that in the matter at hand there was also a perception that the "dissenting judges were being silenced."

This naturally raises questions of transparency and impartiality, whether well-founded or ill-founded. Transparency and impartiality occupy a central place in the adjudicative arena," according to Afridi.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020