Decision on reference against CJP, three judges expected soon

ISLAMABAD: The government has set up a committee of its top legal minds to work on the possibility of a reference for the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) against Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial and three other judges of the Supreme Court, it was learnt.

Informed sources said that after a discussion with his coalition partners, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has assigned his legal team to deliberate on the reference against Chief Justice Bandial, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Sayed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi.

These sources said that the legal committee has been tasked to complete its work within 24 hours. The committee is working on the grounds on basis of which the reference may be filed. The committee will meet on Friday afternoon to give its view on whether there are adequate grounds available to file a reference against the four judges of the apex court. The sources said that Law Minister, Attorney General, ex-minister Zahid Hamid and Irfan Qadir will meet Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah to discuss whether the political decision of filing a reference against the three judges is doable legally.

The final approval of filing the reference will be given once the committee firms up its recommendation but an informed ministerial source told The News on condition of not being named said that “politically it’s almost decided”. The legal committee will tell whether it’s doable or not.

In the background of the recent controversial decision of the three-member Supreme Court bench headed by the Chief Justice for holding elections in Punjab on May 14, the government considered the extreme option of filing a reference in the Supreme Judicial Council against the three judges.

Not only the PMLN chief Nawaz Sharif has pressed for such a reference, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah is also reported to have said a few days back that a reference may be filed against the three members of the apex court’s bench. Meanwhile, a source claimed that in the backdrop of the government’s aggressive posturing against the Supreme Court’s three-member bench and the Parliament’s resolution against the SC’s decision, things may change for the good. The source talked about a “message” and said that the government may hold back from filing a reference if the Chief Justice forms a full court to decide the matters relating to elections in Punjab and KP. However, these claims of a source could not be confirmed from independent sources.

Authorities are also closely monitoring the motive behind the announcement by a bar council on moving a reference against Justice Qazi Faez Isa.

Soon after the Supreme Court’s decision, the federal cabinet met and rejected the decision of the three-member bench and termed it a minority decision. On Thursday, the National Assembly passed a resolution to reject the decision. Moved by Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) lawmaker Khalid Magsi and approved by a majority of the lawmakers, the resolution “bound” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his cabinet to ensure that the “unconstitutional” decision was not implemented. It was noted that the National Assembly on March 28 in a resolution had called on the Supreme Court to avoid “interfering” in political matters. It was also observed that multiple sections of the society had repeatedly urged the apex court to form a full court bench but their calls were ignored and only one political party was heard in the case.