ISLAMABAD: Justice Mansoor Ali Shah has fired broadside towards outgoing Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa for remaining “complacent and detached to exterior stress on the judiciary” throughout his tenure because the senior puisne decide skipped a full court docket reference to bid farewell to the latter.
CJP Isa took oath because the twenty ninth chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) on Sept 17, 2023 at a ceremony, the place his spouse Sarina Isa was standing beside him.
Justice Yahya Afridi, who was appointed by a Particular Parliamentary Committee (SPC), is about to take oath as the following chief justice tomorrow (Saturday).
In a letter to Supreme Court docket Registrar, Justice Shah — who would have turn into the CJP had the twenty sixth Modification not been handed — famous that it’s common customized to carry a farewell occasion to acknowledge the departing chief justice’s contributions.
Nevertheless, he mentioned, traditions, like establishments, “depend on the deserves of those that embody them.”
He defined that he determined towards attending former CJP Saqib Nisar’s reference as a result of “he had exceeded the boundaries of his constitutional function”.
He reiterated that he would additionally not be attending CJP Isa’s reference “although for various however extra worrying causes”.
Justice Shah identified that the chief justice’s function is to guard the rights of the folks, uphold judicial independence, and guarantee justice for all.
“CJP Isa, like an ostrich, together with his head within the sand, remained complacent and detached to exterior influences and pressures on the judiciary,” he wrote, including: “As an alternative of standing as a bulwark towards interference, he opened the gates vast, betraying the judiciary’s sacred function as a examine and stability on energy.”
The senior decide additional mentioned that the outgoing CJP confirmed “neither the braveness nor the ethical fortitude to defend the judiciary quite ceded floor to those that sought to weaken the courts for their very own acquire thereby compromising the very basis of the rule of legislation.”
He additionally mentioned that CJP Isa’s actions have displayed a blatant disregard for the collegiality and respect important to sustaining judicial concord.
“Via a sample of self-righteousness he persistently failed to interact in dialogue and refused to steer with the consensus-building that’s the hallmark of judicial management.”
Apparently referring to the July 12 reserved seats verdict, the incumbent chief justice has little regard for the judgments of Supreme Court docket and has “contemptuously and unashamedly urged that they is probably not applied by the Government.”
Earlier on Oct 22, CJP Isa — in an in depth minority judgment — said that the implementation of the highest court docket’s July 12 verdict was not binding because the overview petitions within the case had been nonetheless pending and never mounted for listening to.
“He [Justice Isa] has fostered bitter divisions and fractured relationships of colleagues throughout the Court docket leaving scars on the judiciary that can final lengthy. His tenure shall be outlined by pettiness, vindictiveness, and a lowly method to administrative issues, having no grace or humility,” Justice Shah added.
He concluded by saying that to attend a reference and have fun such a tenure would ship a message {that a} chief justice can “betray his establishment, erode its energy, act petty and low, and nonetheless be celebrated as an honorable servant of justice.”
When the highest decide retires right now, Justice Afridi will succeed him and take the oath of the workplace of CJP in a ceremony slated to be held on the Aiwan-e-Sadr. President Asif Ali Zardari will administer the oath to the CJP-designate.
Justice Afridi has been appointed the thirtieth chief justice of the nation, who will serve for a hard and fast three-year time period beginning tomorrow (October 26), in line with an announcement from the Aiwan-e-Sadr launched on Wednesday.
He’s the primary CJP to be appointed beneath Articles 175A(3), 177, and 179 of the Structure following the twenty sixth Constitutional Modification.
The ruling coalition final week efficiently pushed by the extremely contentious judicial reforms by parliament through a two-thirds majority with 225 and 65 votes within the decrease and higher home, respectively.