The Supreme Court on Tuesday reserved its verdict on former Islamabad High Court judge Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui’s plea challenging his dismissal from the post.
A five-member bench led by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa and comprising Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi and Justice Irfan Saadat Khan conducted proceedings on the plea.
During the case hearing, CJP Isa said the problem is not the speech but its text in the case pertaining to the dismissal of former judge Siddiqui by the Supreme Judicial Council.
The chief justice remarked that if a judge is removed for giving a speech, then half of the judiciary will go home.
“Many judges give speeches in bar council meetings. The problem is not the speech but the text of the speech,” he remarked.
“A judge’s code of conduct does not prevent him from speaking. The problem is when you make demands in your speech,” CJP added.
These remarks by the country’s top judge came during the resumption of the hearing of the ex-judge’s plea challenging his dismissal.
The proceedings were broadcast live on the apex court’s website as well as on its YouTube channel.
The case was fixed for hearing earlier this month after the judge filed a miscellaneous application with the Supreme Court to conduct an early hearing of his plea against the decision by the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) on his dismissal.
The chief justice said that judges also give interviews in Britain and participate in debates in the United States.
“The eyes of the entire nation are on us. Here is the question of respecting the constitutional institutions,” the chief justice stated, questioning what order should be issued by the bench in such circumstances.
Justice Mandokhail questioned if it was appropriate for a judge to have levelled the allegations in the way that Siddiqui did.
“We should not forget the facts,” the CJP responded.
Justice Mandokhail asked: “If the allegations are true, was Shaukat Siddiqui’s procedure as a judge appropriate?”
The chief justice said there is no restriction on the judge’s speech. “If this were the case, many judges would have missed the speech. The problem is the points raised in the speech of Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui.”
He asked if the court could investigate the matter itself. “Can the Supreme Judicial Council case be constitutionally remanded?”
Responding to CJP Isa, Hamid and Ramay’s lawyer said the case cannot be sent back to the SJC.
“Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui is retired and cannot be reinstated as a judge,” he said, adding that the SJC can no longer look into his case.
In the last hearing of the case, held on December 14 last year, the apex court ordered former judge Siddiqui to nominate the ex-spy chief and others in the plea against his dismissal.
It must be noted that the former judge was removed from his position in the IHC for his speech targeting intelligence agencies when he was addressing the Rawalpindi Bar Association on July 21, 2018.
In his address, the ex-judge accused sensitive institutions of interfering in judicial work.
