Justice Qazi Faez Isa, in a letter to the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP), has asked for postponement of its meeting on July 28, 2022 and accused Supreme Court Chief Justice Umar Bandial of “favoritism” and “discrimination”.
In the letter, Justice Isa said that the appointment of judges from the Sindh and Lahore high courts to the Supreme Court was a matter that “requires utmost care and due deliberation as it is a matter of extreme delicacy”.
Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial has received harsh criticism for holding the meeting when Justice Isa is currently on leave abroad and unable to physically attend.
He said that while on vacation, the Additional Registrar of the Supreme Court sent him a WhatsApp message informing him that the chief justice had summoned a meeting of the JCP for July 28 to discuss the appointment of five judges to the SC.
Isa wrote, “No JCP meeting was scheduled when I applied for the annual leave, but as soon as I left Pakistan, the CJ decided to hold two JCP meetings to examine appointments to the Sindh and Lahore High Courts, and now a third unscheduled JCP meeting is to be held during the SC’s summer break.”
He said that the CJ himself personally informed the SC of its summer break, which was then published in the Official Gazette. If the CJ makes his own notification completely worthless, he should first withdraw it rather than breaking it, he argued.
Additionally, he mentioned that he received a WhatsApp consisting of 2,347 pages of paperwork about the nomination of judges.
“The CJ wants to move quickly and dubiously through a very delicate case. In one week, he wants 2,347 pages of documents to be reviewed,” he stated.
He lamented that he could only access and read 14 out of the 2,347 pages, making it impossible for him to view all of them.
According to him, “The documents have still not been couriered to me or transferred to the Pakistan Embassy in Madrid for further transmission to me.”
Addressing the chief justice, he said, “CJ please do not ridicule the JCP and your nominees by contravening the Constitution. The JCP deserves to be treated with respect and consideration by its Chairman.”
Additionally, he urged that the JCP cease considering just pre-selected candidates for judge appointments.
