Post-retirement action against misconduct of judges: SC conditionally allows govt to become party to case

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday gave conditional permission to the caretaker federal government to become a party in the case of action in the Supreme Judicial Council against judges who committed misconduct even after their retirement.

A five-member larger bench, headed by Justice Aminuddin Khan and comprising Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Musrat Hilali and Justice Irfan Saadat Khan, heard the government appeal against the apex court judgment delivered in 2023 in the Afiya Shehrbano Zia case.

The court, after conducting preliminary hearing into the government’s appeal, issued notice to other parties, including the SJC, and held that the right to hearing would be subjected to the admissibility of government’s appeal.

Meanwhile, the court granted the federal government conditional permission to become a party in the matter. On a court inquiry, counsel for Afiya Shehrbano told the court that his client came to know about the case through social media on January 9. Later, the court also issued a conditional notice to Shehrbano and adjourned the hearing for two weeks.