SC declares reference against Justice Qazi Faez Isa as null and void

ISLAMABAD (92 News) – Announcing reserved verdict on the presidential reference against Justice Qazi Faez Isa, the Supreme Court (SC) has quashed the government’s reference against Justice Isa. A bench, comprising 10 judges, announced the short verdict and the show-cause notice issued to the judge by the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) has been declared null and void too. Earlier today, the court completed the hearing of Justice Qazi Faez Isa case and said it would announce a verdict if the 10-member bench evolved a consensus. The case was wrapped up after Justice Isa's spouse provided the money trail pertaining to her foreign properties and the Federal Board of Revenue provided its input on the matter. The petitioner's lawyer, Munir A Malik, concluded his arguments in court by saying that the federation had "gotten on the wrong bus" in the case. In his arguments, Malik started by saying that he was unable to understand what the government’s case was. He said his client was accused of hiding the properties intentionally, on which Justice Bandial observed that the yesterday’s hearing reinforced the applicant’s stance as his stance was that the documents should first be obtained from Justice Faez’s wife. On June 2, 2019 the government confirmed that a presidential reference had been filed in the Supreme Judicial Council against the judge for owning foreign assets. Earlier, newly appointed Attorney General of Pakistan Khalid Jawed Khan on Monday has recused himself from proceedings of Justice Qazi Faez Isa case. A full bench court of the Supreme Court (SC) headed by Justice Umer Ata Bandial heard the case. During the hearing, Khalid Jawed refused to represent the government in the presidential reference against Justice Faez Isa by justifying before the SC that there “is a conflict of interest.” The new AGP pleaded from the court to accept the government’s application for Additional Attorney General Amir Rehman to argue the case. “Additional Attorney General Amir Rehman has been preparing this case,” he informed the court. Justice Umer Ata Bandial responded to this by setting the next hearing’s date for March 30. “One of the judges on the bench will be away after March 20 and we will hear the case upon his return,” he remarked. “The hearing would not be moved forward again, the government representative should be present in court on the given date,” Justice Bandial said. Earlier on Saturday, the Ministry of Law and Justice notified Khalid Jawed Khan as the new AGP. As per the notification issued by the law ministry, President of Pakistan Dr Arif Alvi has appointed Khalid Jawed Khan as Attorney General for Pakistan “with the rank and status of federal minister with immediate effect.”