ISLAMABAD: 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.

After reserving the verdict, CJP Isa dictated order of the today’s proceedings in the open court.

The written verdict sought responses to questions raised during the court proceedings from parties in the case.

In the order, the SC also questioned if the SJC conducted an inquiry.

“If the inquiry was not done under the Constitution and law, what would be the result?” the order stated.

The court also mentioned the former judge’s date of retirement in the order, according to which he has already reached his age of superannuation on June 30, 2021.

In its order, the SC asked the following questions:

What relief can be given if Shaukat Siddiqui’s appeal is approved?

Can the Supreme Court refer the matter back to the Supreme Judicial Council?

Is the judge’s speech itself not against the code of conduct if council action is not required?”

The court asked the parties to submit their answers to the aforementioned questions within three weeks.

“If deemed necessary, further judicial action can be taken by the Supreme Court,” it stated.

Hearing

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.

Lawyer Hamid Khan is representing the former IHC judge in the case, while Khawaja Haris is the lawyer of former director general of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lieutenant General (retd) Faiz Hamid and Brigadier (retd) Irfan Ramay.

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.

IHC judge removal

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.

Multiple references were subsequently filed against him which included extra expenses on government residence, two related references against him passing remarks during hearing of the Faizabad sit-in case in 2017, another seeking his dismissal and one taken up by the SJC following on a complaint filed against him in the wake of the speeches.

He was eventually dismissed from the post on October 11, 2018, after the SJC decided to dismiss him.

The judge then challenged his dismissal by the SJC in 2018 and his case has been ongoing ever since with the last hearing on the constitutional petition held on June 13, 2022.

Siddiqui, in his petition, requested to cancel the dismissal notification issued against him as an IHC judge.

The judge is being represented by senior lawyer Hamid Khan, while parties in the petition include the Islamabad Bar Association and Karachi Bar Association.