Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has rejected the presidential reference against five judges who took oath under the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO). According to a private television channel, the CJP said the PCO judges had already been declared ab-initio and void, therefore the reference had no legal standing.
According to the documents, Registrar Justice Faqir Hussain wrote a letter to Law Secretary Masood Chishti on 28 June in which he said that CJP Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had refused to accept the presidential reference. In the letter, it was said that nobody had apprised the president of the true picture of the PCO judges against whom the presidential reference was sent to the Supreme Judicial Council instead of their dismissal.
The CJP said that the apex court rejected the appeals of PCO judges and ordered their removal. Out of seven, two judges had retired from service whereas five were still in service. The Supreme Judicial Council is the only institution with the authority to hear the proceedings and remove the judges, said the letter. In the presidential reference, it was said that the president wished to know whether the judges who took oath under the PCO committed misconduct and on that basis they had no right to be judges.