SC dismisses petition against holding two posts by CJP
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed an appeal filed against holding of two posts by the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP).
A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed and comprise Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan and Justice Sajjad Ali Shah heard the case filed by habitual petitioner advocate Hanif Rahi.
During the course of proceedings, the court said the position of the CJP as head of the National Judicial Policy Making Committee was not against the Constitution.
The Judicial Policy-making Committee Ordinance had strengthened the judiciary, the court added.
The bench said the chief justice did not receive any privileges as Judicial Policy-making Committee.
Petitioner Riaz Rahi said policy making was the executive’s authority, not the judiciary’s.
Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan said the Judicial Policy-making Committee reviewed the judiciary’s performance and made decisions.
He asked how an executive could make decisions about the performance of the judiciary. The policy-making committee consisted judges of the higher judiciary, he added.
Hanif Rahi said the court had suspended dual posts of former President Pervez Musharraf.
Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan asked how could the Pervez Musharraf case be applied to his case? Every president was the patron-in-chief of Pakistan Cricket Board, he added.
He said no chief justice voluntarily heads the policy-making committee and the judicial commission. There should be no problem if the post was awarded according to the law, he added.
Hanif Riaz Rahi said the former chief justice had ordered that the case should be fixed before another court in 2018.
Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan said the former chief justice himself refused to hear the case.
The chief justice said it was not necessary to agree with the former chief justice’s stance.
The court also rejected the request to move the case to another bench. – APP