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Justice Naqvi decries ‘disgraceful’ treatment by SJC
In an open letter to the chief justice and all Supreme Court (SC) judges, Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi – who is facing complaints of misconduct – said on Tuesday that the treatment offered to him by the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) was “nothing short of disgraceful”. Justice Naqvi also wrote a separate letter […]
In an open letter to the chief justice and all Supreme Court (SC) judges, Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi – who is facing complaints of misconduct – said on Tuesday that the treatment offered to him by the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) was “nothing short of disgraceful”.
Justice Naqvi also wrote a separate letter to the SJC secretary, asking the latter to furnish a number of documents without which, the judge said, he would not be in a position to prepare his reply to the show-cause notice within time.
In an open letter, Justice Naqvi said he was compelled to write to the CJP and all the other top court judges due to the “astounding volume of misinformation” surrounding his case before the SJC. “I write to you today to dispel with that misinformation, to bring your attention the unfortunate details, to bring on record the evidence of the obstruction of justice within the SC,” he said. “No one shall have the privilege to plead ignorance in this matter should the opportunity come tomorrow,” he added.
Justice Naqvi said the CJP and Justice Masood had written a letter to former CJP Umar Ata Bandial for immediately initiating proceedings against him after the “sham audio-leaks controversy”. In February, an audio clip allegedly featuring a conversation between the judge and former Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi had surfaced. “I ask that which I have not before: Has the honourable chief justice of Pakistan up until this very moment, been able to exonerate his honour and do away with the cloud of uncertainty that hangs over his and the judiciary’s repute? “Why is it that a judge with assets legally acquired and declared in his tax returns is being called to question before the SJC when the honourable chief justice remains immune to any such proceedings against his undeclared properties?” Justice Naqvi asked. “Is there a legal or moral justification for this unreasonable disparity?” he further questioned.
Justice Naqvi said the show-cause notice sent to him in October was afflicted with “grievous legal, constitutional and jurisdictional defects”, which he had communicated in the response submitted on November 10.
He said that the SJC, “instead of meeting the demands of honour and propriety”, issued a revised show-cause notice. “As a consequence, the SJC inadvertently admitted that the initial show-cause notice was defective, that the proceedings were initiated without any investigation or probe into the veracity of the complaints against me, that the members of the SJC are unfit to oversee the relevant proceedings on account of their decided bias and partiality,” Justice Naqvi said.
“An inconvenient truth is still the truth and so I will state it just the same: The treatment offered to me by the chairman and members of the SJC is nothing short of disgraceful,” the judge added. He highlighted that he wrote to the SJC via their secretary on 11 instances for the provision of documents necessary for his defence to no avail. “My requests still have not been complied with. I have written in detail demanding the recusal of the chairman and the two honourable members of the SJC on at least four different occasions. My requests have not been considered, not been responded to,” Justice Naqvi said in the letter. Justice Naqvi noted that CJP Isa had demanded the recusal of Justice Ahsan and Justice Masood during the proceedings of the presidential reference against him.
“I ask again: Is there a legal or moral justification for this unreasonable disparity, this blatant violation of my fundamental rights […] this clear obstruction of justice that I seek from the most prestigious legal forum in the country?” he said.
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