ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, on Wednesday, sought an opinion of a Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) member regarding the complaints against Supreme Court Judge Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar on charges of misconduct, said the sources.

The Registrar, who is also the Secretary of the SJC, on March 24 had asked advocate Mian Dawood and other complainants to file an affidavit in support of their allegations levelled in the complaints under Section 5(3) of the Supreme Judicial Council Procedure of Enquiry Rules, 2005.

The complainants were also asked to file the attested copies of the alleged documents.

Four complaints have been filed against the incumbent judge of the Supreme Court by Mian Dawood, a Lahore-based lawyer, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Lawyers Forum, Punjab, PBC Vice Chairperson Haroon Rasheed and Council’s Chairperson Executive Committee Hasan Raza Pasha and Advocate Ghulam Murtaza Khan, for amassing illegitimate assets and misconduct.

According to Section 7 of the SJC Inquiry of SJC Procedure of Enquiry Rules 2005, “once any information in respect of enquiry into the conduct of a judge is received by any member or the council, it shall be presented to the chairman of the council, who; shall (a) refer the same to any member of the council to look into the said information; and to express his opinion in relation to sufficiency or otherwise of the information; (b) if the council is satisfied that the information prima facie discloses sufficient material for an enquiry, it shall proceed to consider the same”.

It added that “the member, to whom the chairman has referred the information, will examine the same and ascertain if the information so received discloses specific particulars of misconduct, and provides factual details necessary to form prima facie opinion in respect of the guilt of the judge”.

“If the member forms an opinion that the information does reveal sufficient material to commence enquiry, he shall inform the council accordingly and the information shall be placed before the council.”

Last month, two senior judges of the SC and members of the SJC, Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, wrote a letter to Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Chief Justice Sindh High Court Ahmed Ali M Sheikh and Chief Justice Lahore High Court Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti, as they are other members of the Council.

The letter stated that written complaints had been received from the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) and other petitioners against Justice Naqvi, alleging misconduct and financial corruption.

In the letter, it is said that by calling a meeting of the SJC, the allegations levelled against the judge should be reviewed if they were false or true.

The decision to move the top judicial body by the PBC was taken when audio leaks emerged purportedly featuring a conversation about the fixation of the case before a particular bench or judge with former Punjab chief minister Pervaiz Elahi.

Two separate audio clips were leaked on social media last month. In the first audio clip, a man believed to be Elahi could be heard telling “Jojasahab” that the SC judge should be appointed to hear the “Muhammad Khan case”.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023