Justice Qazi Faez Isa of the Supreme Court objected on Monday to the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) convening two meetings without him in order to appoint new judges to the Sindh and Lahore high courts.
In a WhatsApp message to Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial that was also sent to the council members, the justice observed, “It seems that more care is given in the nomination of a cook than in the appointment of judges.”
The JCP has scheduled two sessions for June 28 and 29, respectively, to discuss the candidates for the Sindh High Court (SHC) and the confirmation of the additional judges of the Lahore High Court, according to Justice Isa (LHC).
The justice, who had previously called for the resignation of the current secretary, claimed that neither the Hon’ble Chief Justice of Pakistan (HCJP) nor Jawad Paul, the JCP’s secretary (the Secretary), had told him of the meetings.
He claimed that his private secretary took pictures of the letters from the secretary, which he WhatsApped to him, as well as the three boxes of paperwork that went with them. These boxes of documents are likely to contain information about the nominees and samples of their work.
Justice Isa stated that he “greatly objects” to the way in which these JCP meetings have been scheduled and that it has grown monotonous to continually reiterate the specifics of the secretary’s “manipulative and criminal” behavior.
Serious complaints made concerning the secretary both orally and in writing go unanswered; the courtesy of a response is not even extended. Is this contempt, haughtiness, or a display of unaccountability? And does such behavior erode and destroy institutions, or does it strengthen and build them?” he questioned.
“One may well wonder what legitimacy attaches to the Supreme Court taking issue with those who similarly use an authority in their separate areas” when issues are decided unilaterally and arbitrarily and the secretary cum registrar is “totally unaccountable”.
