Supreme Court (SC) Justice Qazi Faez Isa has submitted his replies to two show-cause notices issued by the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) regarding the non-disclosure of his family’s foreign properties in the wealth statements and writing letters to the president.
Justice Isa submitted both the replies late on Wednesday night, before the end of the 14-day deadline given to him by the apex judicial forum. He had moved an application in the SJC requesting to supply relevant material on the basis of which the reference was filed against him.
The judge had also requested for extending time for filing the replies to the show-cause notices after going through the material. However, it is learnt that the SJC did not entertain his application, saying that the SJC members were not available in Islamabad and that the plea could not be considered in a short period of time.
In his replies, Justice Isa again requested the SJC to make the reference against him public. He defended writing letters to the president “as he is head of the state”. “He is the appointing authority; therefore, there is no illegality to write letters to the president,” the justice said in his reply.
Likewise, in the matter related to foreign properties, Justice Isa in his reply revealed that before becoming a judge, his annual income was Rs37 million in 2008.
According to media reports, Justice Isa was initially reluctant to file the replies, however, senior lawyers Muneer A Malik and Rasheed A Rizvi convinced him to contest the charges. The reports also suggested that some members of the legal fraternity wanted the services of senior lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan to plead Justice Isa’s case in the apex court.
According to Rule 9 of the SJC Procedure of Inquiry, 2005, “If the council decides to proceed against a judge, a show-cause notice shall be issued to him along with supporting material calling upon him to explain his conduct within 14 days. On receipt of reply from the judge, the council shall convene its meeting to proceed further with the matter.”