Shaukat Siddiqui decides to challenge SJC verdict

ISLAMABAD: Deposed judge of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui has decided to challenge his disqualification by the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC).

Siddiqui has started consultation with his lawyers, Rasheed A Rizvi and Hamid Khan.

According to the sources, the verdict will be challenged in Supreme Court on Monday.

On Thursday, President Arif Alvi removed Siddiqui, a vocal critic of the country’s spy agencies, from his post, a notification issued by the Law Ministry said.

The decision came after the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) recommended Siddiqui’s removal to the president for making a controversial speech against ISI [Inter-Services Intelligence] and the judiciary before the District Bar Association, Rawalpindi on July 21, 2018.

“Mr Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, Judge, Islamabad High Court (IHC), Islamabad had displayed conduct unbecoming of a Judge of a High Court and was, thus, guilty of misconduct and he is, therefore, liable to be removed from his officer under Article 209(6) of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973,” the recommendation stated.

DETAILED JUDGMENT ISSUED:

The SJC on Friday issued the detailed judgement about the dismissal of the former IHC judge.

Justice Asif Saeed penned the 39-page judgement. While discussing the causes of his removal, he wrote that allegations against Siddiqui were correct and the council suggests removing him from his office under Article-209 of the constitution.

In his reply, Siddiqui had pleaded that no evidence was presented against him and it was his responsibility to take the bar into confidence. The council rejected his plea and declared that Siddiqui violated the code of conduct by accusing the state institutions.

“A judge should be cautious while making remarks about other judges and their decisions. What Justice Shaukat Siddiqui said about former chief justices of Pakistan and their decisions was only his personal view. Siddiqui should have had avoided such disrespectful statements on a public forum,” the judgement read.

It said that Siddiqui could not prove his allegations with concrete evidence in the written reply. The judgement said, “The judges were completely banned to opine on the judicial decisions about the political and constitutional issues in the country. The disrespectful words for the living or dead judges are not the standard of a judge.”

Siddiqui did not provide details with regard to the allegations levelled against Brig Irfan Ramay and Major General Faiz Hameed who had met with him in the chamber, the ruling said.

He also alleged that some people intervened in Faizabad sit-in and Bol/Axact Group trials, but he could not provide evidence, it added.

The council raised five questions about his meeting with the agency officers and asked why he met with the military officers at his residence, allowed them to talk about the judicial issues, and did not act against them for contempt of court. “Why he did not take the chief justice of Islamabad High Court and Supreme Court chief justice into confidence regarding the issue,” it asked.