Judges aren’t answerable to parliament: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court of Pakistan has clarified that the parliament could not discuss the conduct of judges under Article 68 of the Constitution.

Registrar Supreme Court in his reply to the Chairman Public Accounts Committee with the consent of full-court bench said that the panel could not carry out the audit of the apex judiciary.

While referring to the Article 68 of the Constitution, the letter said, “No discussion shall take place in [Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament)] with respect to the conduct of any Judge of the Supreme Court or of a High Court in the discharge of his duties”.

The letter further stated that the committee should approach the president if it is interested in a formal court order.

On Tuesday, a report presented in Public Accounts Committee claimed that three existing and twelve retired judges of the apex court received two residential plots each worth of millions of rupees in expensive sectors of Islamabad.

The Supreme Court, however, refused to provide audit details to the committee arguing the committee couldn’t review judges’ conducts.

The Registrar made it clear that the Constitution bars the committee to call any official including registrar of the apex court for any purposes.

He, however, said that the president, being the head of state, has the authority to decide about the counseling domain of the court. The Registrar advised the PAC to approach president of the county in this regard.

The committee, during the chairmanship of Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), had sent the letter to the Supreme Court asking for the audit report. Under the directives of present Chairman Nadeem Afzal Chan, the PAC made the letter public it received recently that had been issued by the SC’s full court.

According to the report, as many as 21 judges of the apex court, including Justice (Retd) Khalilur Rehman Ramday, and around 214 bureaucrats received residential plots in G-12 and G-13 sectors of Islamabad. Justice Ramday was among 15 judges of the higher judiciary and around 56 bureaucrats who received two plots each in Islamabad.

The Capital Development Authority (CDA) presented lists of 21 judges before the committee, saying all judges who acquired one or more plots in Islamabad were either sitting or retired judges of the SC. The lists showed that around 15 judges acquired two or more plots in Islamabad.

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Posted by Faisal Farooq on Jul 4 2012. Filed under Pakistan, Society. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.