Supreme Court accepts Justice Isa's review petition

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Monday accepted the review petition filed by Justice Qazi Faez Isa with a 6-4 majority verdict, Geo News reported.

A 10-member larger bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Umer Ata Bandial, was hearing the identical review petitions against its last year order of June 19, referring the matter to the Federal Board of Revenue, directing to initiate tax proceedings against the spouse and children of Justice Qazi Faez Isa.

Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, Justice Muneeb Akhtar and Justice Qazi Ameen disagreed with the majority verdict.

While the judges who accepted the petitions against the top court’s June 2020 order include, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Maqbool Baqar, Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel, Justice Manzoor Ahmed Malik, Justice Aminuddin Khan and Justice Yahya Afridi.

Justice Yahya Afridi also wrote a dissenting note.

The legal actions taken by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and other institutions in the matter were declared as “illegal” by the apex court.

The judgement stated that the FBR's report could not be challenged in the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) or any other legal forum.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court had rejected Justice Isa’s petition seeking a live broadcast of case proceedings.

The presidential reference

The Supreme Court had on June 19 dismissed the presidential reference against Justice Qazi Faez Isa in the Supreme Judicial Council and accepted his petition seeking the reference's dismissal.

"[The reference] is declared to be of no legal effect whatsoever and stands quashed, and in consequence thereof the proceedings pending in the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) against the Petitioner in CP 17/2019 (including the show-cause notice dated 17.07.2019 issued to him) stand abated," read the court's short order.

The SJC had initiated the proceedings over Justice Isa's alleged non-disclosure in wealth returns of three London properties acquired on lease in the name of his wife and children between 2011 and 2015.

A ten-member larger bench of the apex court headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Maqbool Baqar, Justice Manzoor Ahmad Malik, Justice Faisal Arab, Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed heard the case.