Prime Minister’s aide on Political and Public Affairs Rana Sanaullah hinted on Tuesday that a reference can be filed against two senior apex court judges “over their conduct in certain matters”.
The statement by the premier’s aide comes after strong opposition to the nomination of six Supreme Court judges and the transfer of jurists to the Islamabad High Court (IHC).
“Their [two SC judges] general attitude is to write letters on every issue…the letters make headlines first and later reach the addressee,” the PML-N leader said while speaking to a private news channel on Tuesday.
His remarks came a day after the judicial commission approved the appointment of six new judges to the apex court amid a boycott by PTI lawmakers and two senior SC judges. The chief justices of all high courts, except the Lahore High Court (LHC) were among the six judges nominated.
Earlier, three judges — from Sindh, Balochistan, and Lahore — were transferred to the IHC, drawing severe criticism from the legal fraternity, including the IHC judges.
The five justices, contesting the seniority criteria, were of the view that the judges transferred from other high courts should take oath anew to reset their seniority.
Nevertheless, their representation was rejected by IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq, saying the new oath was not required as their seniority was calculated from the time they took oath in their respective high court and not from the date of their transfer.
Meanwhile, PTI Senator Hamid Khan said that the lawyer community would challenge the nominations of the six judges in the top court and vowed to continue the “protest movement”.
Separately, all three representative bar councils of the federal capital — Islamabad Bar Council (IBC), Islamabad High Court Bar Association (IHCBA), and Islamabad District Bar Association (IDBA) — announced launching a long march during the hearing of 26th amendment-related petitions.
This is a developing story and is being updated with further details.
