Justice Isa questions CJP’s discretionary powers
Says excluding senior judges from benches neither serves the institution nor the people
Supreme Court Judge Justice Qazi Faez Isa. PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD:
After Justice Yahya Afridi, another apex court judge – Justice Qazi Faez Isa – has raised questions about the discretionary powers exercised by the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) – a position currently held by Justice Gulzar Ahmed.
The CJP currently enjoys unfettered discretionary powers to constitute benches, “fix” cases and initiate public interest proceedings under Article 184 (3) of the Constitution.
Building a case against “unstructured discretion”, Justice Isa – in a letter written to Justice Gulzar Ahmed on February 10 – noted that the Supreme Court often castigates arbitrary exercise of discretion, yet while making benches hearing important constitutional matters unstructured discretion is exercised.
Justice in the time of coronavirus
As CJP took suo motu notice of govt’s handling of pandemic, some argued the matter fell into executive’s domain
A Reuters file image
ISLAMABAD:
As the novel coronavirus pandemic unfurled, the judiciary found itself at a critical intersection between health and justice.
As efforts to contain the outbreak took precedence, the country’s already high judicial backlog ballooned even further. By November 15, nearly 4,000 more cases were added to the pot of pending judicial business, taking the total backlog to 45,959 cases.
With the second wave showing no sign of subsiding, maintaining full momentum in judicial activity is likely to end up as the judiciary’s biggest challenge going into next year.