Justice Mazahar Naqvi case: SC adjourns hearing till Jan 8 after objections by counsel

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) Friday adjourned until January 8, haring of petitions, filed by its judge Justice Sayed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, challenging the show-cause notice, issued to him over misconduct complaints, filed against him.

A three-member SC bench, headed by Justice Aminuddin Khan and comprising Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail and Justice Musarrat Hilali, heard the petitions, filed by Justice Mazahar Naqvi.

The petitioner had challenged in the SC complaints of misconduct, filed against him in the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), terming it a direct and blatant attack on the independence of judiciary.

The judge had filed petitions in the apex court under Article 184(3) of the Constitution through senior lawyers including Khawaja Haris, Barrister Latif Khosa, Barrister Ali Zafar and Makhdoom Ali Khan, making the Federation of Pakistan through secretary Ministry of Law and Justice, President of Pakistan through Aiwan-e-Sadr secretariat and the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) through its secretary as respondents.

The judge prayed to the apex court to declare initiation of proceedings against him by the SJC as coram non judice, without lawful authority and of no legal effect, and quash the same. The judge had further prayed to the apex court to declare that the purported show-cause notice, issued on October 28, 2023, and the haring notice, issued on November 13, 2023, were without lawful authority and of no legal effect and quash the same. The judge had alleged that he had been facing a malicious campaign since February 16, 2023, adding that false and baseless allegations had been openly and publically levelled against him.

On Friday, Makhdoom Ali Khan, counsel for Justice Sayed Mazahir Ali Naqvi appeared before the court and raised objections over the committee that had constituted the bench for hearing the instant petitions.

Justice Aminuddin Khan asked the counsel as to whether it was his stance that the present bench was not constituted by the three-member committee, constituted under the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act, 2023. Makhdoom Ali replied in affirmative. However, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail observed that the matter of three-member committee was an administrative in nature.

Makhdoom, however, submitted that the minutes of the meeting of the committee were present at the website of the apex court. The counsel contended that the bench was not constituted, adding that Justice Ijazul Ahsen, one of the members of the committee, had also written a letter.

The court referred the matter to a three-member committee to examine the objections, raised by the counsel for the petitioner and adjourned the hearing until January 8, 2024.