ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Judicial Council has rejected a complaint of misconduct against Justice Qazi Faez Isa over writing letters to President Dr Arif Alvi over proceedings against him for allegedly not disclosing foreign properties in his wealth statement.
A show-cause notice was issued to the Supreme Court judge on July 18 for writing letters after a presidential reference was filed against him.
The SJC had asked Justice Isa to explain his conduct for writing letters to the president of Pakistan.
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In May, President Alvi authorised the filing of references with the SJC against Justice Isa and Sindh High Court’s Justice KK Agha for allegedly not disclosing their foreign properties in their wealth statements.
Consequently, Justice Isa had written a letter to President Alvi seeking clarity regarding the reports that the government had filed a reference against him over allegations of misconduct. Copies of the letter were sent to Prime Minister Imran Khan and the apex court as well.
In the second letter to the president, the SC judge again requested a copy of the reference filed against him. He also expressed his concerns over the alleged media campaign against him.
It is learnt that the SJC in the second show-cause notice regarding writing letters to the president, had also charged Justice Isa over “insinuations against state institutions”.
A senior government official revealed that actually Justice Isa had written three letters to the president. Interestingly, his third letter, which he wrote on June 12 and complained about the alleged media trial, is yet to be made public.
Justice Isa, in his third letter, complained that neither he nor the prime minister replied, nor sent him a copy of the reference. However, an unsigned document which purports to be the reference is available on the media, he added.
The Supreme Court judge said that if due process was followed, public disclosure was not made and the matter left to the council, there would be no issue. “However, conducting my media trial is in clear breach of constitutional provisions,” he said.
