Review petition; Justice Qazi Faez appears before bench to argue case himself

According to details, a hearing was conducted over the review petition filed by Justice Qazi Faez Isa in Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP). His lawyer Munir A. Malik could not appear before court owing to health issues.

During proceedings, Justice Umar Ata Bandial asked Justice Faez if he would give arguments himself to which he replied positively saying that he doesn’t want any other colleague to retire till the end of the case.

Justice Faez argued that it was a matter of transparency in the conduct of the judge, the Supreme Judicial Council and the government.

“As per rules, your lawyer must appear before the court or give a written reply in court that he cannot give arguments on the review petition,” said Justice Bandial.

“Munir A Malik had already booked a flight but his health condition deteriorated,” Justice Faez replied.

Justice Faez told the court that the head of state (President) had sent the reference to Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP).

“If the reference was between the top officials of the country, how did it become public? The government has not yet commented on how the reference was made public and the Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) should have appeared in court,” he said.

Justice Bandial said that the notice has not been issued to AGP yet, to which Justice Faez replied that he wanted the hearing to be rescheduled tomorrow.

“I had requested that the hearing be telecast live on a government channel,” Justice Faez said.

“The request for live broadcast of the hearing is the first of its kind. The live broadcast of hearing is related to transparency and for that we need to keep resources in mind too,” Justice Bandial replied adding, “We need to hear federation’s viewpoint as well.”

The Additional Attorney General informed the court that AGP could not appear in apex court due to medical conditions, to which Justice Umar Ata Bandial asked if Additional Attorney General could give arguments if the hearing was held tomorrow.

On this occasion, the court adjourned hearing on review petitions of Justice Qazi Faiz Issa till tomorrow.

It is pertinent to mention here that Justice Faez Isa including his wife Mrs. Sarina Isa, Supreme Court Bar Association, Sindh High Court Bar Association and others had sought review and removal of paragraph 2 to 11 of the June 19, 2020 verdict.