Apex court rejects Justice Qazi Faez Isa's request to broadcast hearing live

A 10-member larger bench headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial gave a short judgment dismissing the petition of Justice Qazi Faez Isa.

The court said a detailed decision on the petition will be issued later.

سپریم کورٹ میں جسٹس قاضی فائز عیسی نظرثانی کیس کی سماعت، عدالت نے کیس کی سماعت براہ راست نشر کرنے کی استدعا مسترد کردی #GNNUpdates #GNN #BreakingNews #SupremeCourt #QaziFaezIsa pic.twitter.com/36FT3aCSTw

— GNN (@gnnhdofficial) April 13, 2021

However, Justice Maqbool Baqir, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Manzoor Ahmad Malik and Justice Mazhar Alam Mian Khel have disagreed with the majority decision.

The Supreme Court's majority decision said that access to information is a matter of public interest but its modalities and details will be decided at the administrative level in a full-court meeting.

Justice Yahya Afridi, while rejecting the request to telecast the hearing of the case live, said in an additional note that the relief sought by Justice Qazi Faez Isa would be contrary to the oath of a judge.

The four-judge dissenting note in the ruling said that steps must be taken at all state institutions, including the judiciary, for public access to information.

During the hearing of the case, Faez Isa's wife Serena Isa said that the government officials and Federal Minister Fawad Chaudhry did the contempt of court but no action was taken against them.

When the verdict was issued, Justice Isa said he wanted to know the names of the judges who were for and against the request to have the case broadcast live.

Justice Omar Ata Bandial said that if you are mentally prepared for arguments, contempt of court petitions will also be fixed for hearing.

The court adjourned further hearing of the case till tomorrow.

Last month, Additional Attorney-General Aamir Rehman told the SC that the federal government is opposed to Justice Isa's request for the live broadcast of review petition proceedings.

Rehman had argued that live coverage would lead to a public debate on the conduct of judges.

"Judges speak through their decisions, not on television," he said.

He said it was feared that court decisions with live coverage would not be legal and would be based on popularity.