ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice said the judges of the Supreme Court are paid to work six days a week, and not four and a half days.

Chief Justice Qazi Faez in response to Justice Ijazul Ahsan’s letter dated 17th November, replied; “I am disappointed to have received your letter of 17 November 2023 concerning the working of the committee constituted under Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act, 2023.”

The letters of Justice Ijazul Ahsan and the Chief Justice were uploaded on the Supreme Court’s website on Tuesday.

“You allege that you have not been consulted with regard to the constitution of benches. My door is always open to all my colleagues, I am also available on intercom and via cell phone, but surprisingly you neither came to talk to me nor reached out to me by intercom or cell phone to express your concerns.

“Immediately, on receipt of your letter I called you on the intercom, but it was not answered. Thereafter, I asked my staff to contact your office and learnt that you had left for Lahore, early Friday afternoon and before the end of the working day. We are paid to work six days, not four and a half days.

“The primary, and first, responsibility of a judge is to attend to judicial work. Therefore, I had initially scheduled the Committee to meet after all orders passed during the course of the day had been written, checked and signed, and this would be by Friday afternoon. But, conceding to your request, the Committee meetings were rescheduled to Thursdays, which I now consider may have been, a mistake.

“If I did not want to consult either you or Justice Sardar Tariq Masood would I have supported, believed and imposed the process of consultation on myself when a Bench, of which you were a member, had suspended the operation of the Act? Let me remind you of the first order I signed after assuming the responsibility of the office of the Chief Justice of Pakistan on 18th September 2023.”

He wrote that before I attend to your uncalled-for allegations, let me remind you that the first meeting of the Committee was delayed due to your non-availability, another could not take place because you were attending a conference in Hong Kong then the next Thursday (9th November 2023) was declared a public holiday and the Committee could not meet on the last Thursday (16th November) because of ill health of our colleague, and you had consented to the meeting being adjourned to the coming week. On my part I have throughout been available, and have always accommodated my colleagues.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023