Supreme Court judges Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Yahya Afridi on Tuesday took notice of the procedure of the hearing of cases.
The court summoned the apex court registrar with complete details over the matter.
Justice Isa said he was the judge of Supreme Court besides remaining the Balochistan High Court chief justice and he wanted to improve transparency in the cases.
He questioned the authority of the registrar to shift cases from one bench to another while saying transparency would remain affected due to this approach of the registrar.
Justice Isa added it seemed the registrar was even more powerful than the apex court’ judges because he could not hear the case of the year 2010 because the registrar did not put the cases on the hearing list.
He also questioned the registrar regarding the procedure to fix the cases for hearing. To which the registrar replied that the cases were fixed on the list with the approval of the chief justice.
Justice Yahya Afridi also criticized the registrar’s action and said there was Justice Hassan Rizvi in the bench and why it was changed.
Justice Faez Isa said why his and Justice Yahya Afridi’s names were removed from the bench as it made people suspicious. The registrar responded by saying the staff officer of the chief justice made a proposal regarding the changes in the bench under the chief justice’s directions.
Must Read: Justice Isa says meritocracy demands cases be heard on first-come, first-served basis Justice Faez mentioned article-10A regarding the due process and added there should be legal reasons for the changes in the bench as otherwise, the people would say the court had favored specific party by formulating a like-minded bench.
He added that today the cases of the years 2021 and 2022 were fixed for hearing and needlessly the cases were shifted from the bench of Justice Hassan Rizvi and given to the bench of Justice Mazahir Ali Naqvi and highlighted the roster had been made regarding his name in the tomorrow’s bench.
Justice Afridi raised a pertinent question regarding the formulation of the roster of sittings. He asked whether the roster was made by the chief justice or registrar. To which, the registrar answered that the preliminary roster was sent to the chief justice.
Justice Isa castigated the registrar and said he should speak in a judicious manner and if he did not fix the case of a person on merit that would severely affect the judicial system.
The registrar responded that the chief justice approved the roster and then the changes in the bench were made. Then Justice Isa asked the registrar to show the file on which the note of changes in bench was written. No file was presented in court.—NNI
Justice Isa asked another question and said was it the complete prerogative of the chief justice to formulate a bench and fix cases for
hearing?
Justice Isa also stopped the registrar from using the word “we” as he
was not the king in the court.—NNI
